Rescue of scoundrels. Why and from what should we save ourselves?

Website of the Gorlovka and Slavic diocese

What are Christians being saved from? What does it take to be saved? Will God have mercy on everyone? Is it possible to join a church but not meet Christ? Archpriest Alexander Khvorost, rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior in the city of Druzhkovka, answered us.

The verb “to be saved” in the Christian understanding means “to achieve holiness and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” What should we save ourselves from and why is this necessary? The fact is that the life of mankind is darkened by sin and its consequences - illness, death, wars, suffering, and so on. During the lives of our ancestors Adam and Eve, already in the first generation of their descendants, human blood was shed, and it is shed to this day. Each person sees that he himself is gradually dying, approaching death through illness, wear and tear of the body, and the world around him is dying - its resources are being exhausted, the environmental situation is deteriorating. What should we, small and unprotected people do?

We need to understand that the Lord did not create us for such a life. The Church teaches that we were created for something else - for a joyful existence without death and suffering. This is possible only in the format of communion with God, that is, when we return to God. A person must know that there is God and strive to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. What is the Kingdom of Heaven? This is a project for the correction of existence: we are promised that there will be a new heaven, a new earth and a new man. The Lord will fix everything, resurrect everyone and call everyone to eternal life. He leads us through the Resurrection to a new life, where a person will be completely happy, and nothing will darken his existence.

History of Sin and Salvation

The story of the fall of the first people, Adam and Eve, is told in the first chapters of the book of Genesis. Initially created sinless by God, people deceived by Satan violated God's will and fell into sin and, as a result, became mortal.

God, continuing to love His creation, wants to give people forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation from punishment in hell. To do this, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to earth, Who took upon Himself the sins of people, died for them, and then rose from the dead.

Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament, is the atoning sacrifice for sin, and people, believing in His death and resurrection from the dead and turning to Him with repentance for their sins, receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Bible Online

The sun was setting in the west, and the last rays of the setting sun were illuminating the world as I walked home from the meeting, meditating on what the pastor had said: “Once saved, we are saved forever, because the Bible says: “For if with the mouth If you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes for righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses for salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10). Because we believe in the Lord Jesus, as long as we believe in our hearts and acknowledge Him with our lips, we are then saved, and if we are saved once, we are saved forever. As long as we continue to work, dedicate ourselves completely to the Lord, and endure to the very end, then upon the Lord’s return we will immediately be caught up into the Kingdom of Heaven!” I expressed my warm agreement with the words of the pastor: “Yes! The Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross so that we could be redeemed, so as long as we call on the name of the Lord, confess our sins, and repent before the Lord, our sins will be forgiven and we will be saved by His grace. Once saved, we are saved forever, and we will surely be caught up into the kingdom of heaven later on.” Throughout my years of faith in the Lord, I have always firmly believed that this view is correct and have never doubted it.

However, one day while I was consulting the Scriptures, I read the following words spoken by the Lord Jesus: “ Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord! Lord!', he who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter the Kingdom of Heaven " (Matthew 7:21); “ ...if you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples ” (John 8:31). I thought carefully about these words, and I realized that the Lord Jesus was saying that only those who do God's will and put the Lord's words into practice are worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He did not say that one can be saved simply by faith, or simply because once saved is always saved, or that people will be immediately raptured into the Kingdom of Heaven when the Lord returns. It began to feel as if my views were not in line with the Lord's words! Is it possible that the views I have held for all these years were wrong? Having believed in the Lord all these years, although I believed without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord Jesus redeemed us, I often did not put the Lord’s teachings into practice in my life. Since I was not one to do God's will, how could I then enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy, but then I thought, “Since the Lord Jesus became the sin offering for us and forgave all our sins, we have already been saved by His grace, so why shouldn’t we be able to enter the Kingdom?” Heavenly? Doesn’t salvation by His grace mean eternal salvation?” I was seriously puzzled, so to resolve this confusion, I searched and prayed a lot to the Lord, I also consulted many spiritual books, but the answer could not be found.

Later, at a meeting with co-workers, I ran into Brother Zhang, whom I had not seen for ages. He is a preacher with excellent understanding of the Bible. He has new light to share at every meeting and I benefit greatly from it. Seeing him this time, I greeted him with joy, and during our conversation I mentioned a problem that had been bothering me for quite some time. Smiling, Brother Zhang said, “Brother Yang, the problem you mentioned is related to the important question of whether we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven or not. I too have been tormented by this question in the past, but through the leading of the Lord and my searching for some time, I now have some simple understanding of what true salvation is.” I blurted out: “So tell me quickly!” He laughed and said, “As we know, chapter 2, verse 32 in the Book of Joel says, “… everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved .” In those ancient days, Jehovah God declared His laws and commanded the people of Israel to follow them. People believed that as long as they kept the laws and were not condemned, they would be saved. But as humanity became increasingly corrupted by Satan, at the end of the Age of Law the people of Israel were unable to keep the laws and committed more and more sins. There was no longer a sin sacrifice that could be offered to sufficiently atone for sins, and so the people faced the danger of being convicted and sentenced to death under these laws. However, God took pity on the human race, and so that humanity could be saved and avoid condemnation based on the laws, God became flesh with the name Jesus and performed the work of redemption. He was crucified as some sinless flesh and, of his own free will, redeemed us people in the face of the laws. From that moment on, because we have accepted and called on the name of the Lord Jesus and come before Him to repent and confess our sins, for this reason our sins are forgiven and we are no longer subject to condemnation or punishment under these laws. We have been saved because the Lord Jesus has redeemed us.”

Hearing what Brother Zhang said, I suddenly felt enlightened and said in amazement: “What you mean is that in the Age of Law, as long as people kept the laws of Jehovah God, they were saved, and in the Age of Grace, as long as people kept the laws of Jehovah God, As long as people trusted in the Lord Jesus, confessed their sins, and repented to the Lord, they too were saved.”

Brother Zhang replied, “Yes. Whenever God does a new stage of work, we are able to keep up with the pace of God's work, comply with God's requirements in the new age, practice God's words, and therefore can be saved and no longer subject to God's judgment. In fact, salvation by the grace of the Lord Jesus through our faith in Him only means that our sins are forgiven and that we will not be judged or sentenced to death according to the laws. However, this does not mean that we follow God's way and that we have renounced all sins, and it certainly does not mean that once we are saved we are saved forever. Even though we believe in the Lord Jesus and have been redeemed by Him and our sins have been forgiven, we are still capable of sinning frequently in defiance of God, and we live in a vicious circle of committing sins during the day and then confessing them in the evening, unable to free ourselves from the bonds and limitations of sin. For example, when we are faced with a problem, in order to save face and position and to have people look at us favorably and with respect, we often resort to disguises, lies and deception. We like to make an impression when we do something, and we may also scheme against others and compete with them for position. When we see our brothers and sisters becoming despondent, weak and losing faith, we try several times to give them help and support, but seeing that this has no effect, we ourselves lose compassion and patience and begin to avoid our brothers and sisters. We become unable to love others as we love ourselves. Especially when trials befall us, we grumble and may blame and condemn the Lord to the point that we begin to harbor thoughts and ideas about how to betray the Lord; we are simply not able to put the words of the Lord into practice; we lack true faith in the Lord and true obedience to Him. There are also many brothers and sisters who follow worldly trends, who crave sinful pleasures, and who, like unbelievers, live their lives in eating, drinking and having fun. God said: “... truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son abides forever ” (John 8:34-35). “ Be ye holy therefore, for I am holy ” (Lev. 11:45). God's words are very clear: God is holy, and God's character is righteous and unshakable, and if anyone wants to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then he must get rid of his sinful nature and cleanse himself, no longer sinning or defying God; only such people are worthy to inherit God's promise. Could we, those who sin during the day and confess our sins in the evening, who live in inevitable sin, ever qualify to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? If we do not put an end to our sins at the very core, then even if our sins are forgiven us a thousand times, ten thousand times, we will still belong to Satan and resist God. Just think: if God allowed people like us with our satanic, corrupted characters, who are capable of defying God and betraying Him, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, would it be possible to still call God’s Kingdom a holy kingdom? It would be impossible!”

I completely agreed with what Brother Zhang shared. Indeed, how can we, who live daily in sin, clearly realizing that we sin and cannot help but commit sin, be worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? At that moment I felt that my own faith in God was so confused; The Lord's words were spoken so clearly, and yet I made no effort to appeal to His words. On the contrary, I lived within my own ideas and fantasies, completely misunderstanding the will of God and harboring the absurd belief that as long as I believed in my heart and acknowledged the Lord with my mouth, then at the return of the Lord I would be saved and accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven. How stupid I was! I was simply daydreaming! If I were not cured of this ridiculous point of view and continued to believe in God based on my own ideas and fantasies, then God would undoubtedly eventually hate, reject and eliminate me. So I asked Brother Zhang, “What exactly is true salvation?”

Brother Zhang took out a book from his bag and said that the words in this book can solve my problem. Then he began to read: “ When people leave behind Satan's nasty and evil things, they gain God's salvation. But if they remain unable to get rid of filth and depravity, then they continue to remain under the dominion of Satan. Human collusion, human duplicity and dishonesty are all from Satan. By saving you, God separates you from all these things, and God's work cannot be unfaithful; everything He does is aimed at saving people from darkness. When you have believed to a certain extent and can get rid of the depravity of the flesh, when you are no longer in the bondage of that depravity, are you not saved? When you live under Satan's dominion, you cannot discover God, you are something bad, and you will not receive the inheritance of God. Once you have been purified and perfected, you will be holy and you will be normal, you will receive God’s blessing and you will be pleasing to God” (from “Practice Part 2” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Man's sins could be forgiven through a sin offering, but man was powerless to solve the problem of how to stop sinning and how to completely remove his sinful nature and be perfected. Man's sins were forgiven by God's crucifixion, but man continued to live with the old, corrupt, satanic disposition. Thus, man must be completely saved from the corrupt satanic disposition so that man's sinful nature will be removed and never develop again; this will allow a person's character to change. This requires a person to understand the path of life growth, the path of life and the path of change in his character. It also requires man to act in accordance with this way, so that man's character can be gradually changed, and so that he can live in the radiance of light, and so that he can act in accordance with God's will in all cases, cast off the corrupt satanic disposition, and become free from satanic influence and darkness, thus completely rejecting sin. Only then will a person receive complete salvation ” (From “Practice. Part 2”).

Brother Zhang then continued to communicate with me and said, “Praise the Lord, these words have completely clarified what true salvation is! True salvation means that once a person has found the truth, once he has been purified and perfected by God, he completely rejects sin and is delivered from the dark influence of Satan, he no longer sins or defies God. The work that the Lord Jesus did was actually the work of redemption, and we simply ceased to be one with sin. But the satanic nature within us is deeply rooted, and even though our sins have been forgiven by the Lord, when faced with problems, we are still capable of being influenced by satanic character traits such as arrogance and vanity, dishonesty and deceit, selfishness and meanness, treachery and maliciousness, and often we cannot help but sin and challenge God, and are simply unable to put the words of the Lord into practice. This is reminiscent of a thief who was caught by the police for stealing other people's things. His parents can't bear the thought of their son languishing in prison, so they pay a huge sum to free their son from prison. But internally he is still a thief by nature, and when the right opportunity presents itself, he will again be at the mercy of his nature and continue to steal things. Therefore, if we understand all aspects of the truth, completely free ourselves from the dominion of Satan, purify our satanic corrupt dispositions, cast off the shackles of sin and seek God's will, put God's words into practice, and truly reverence and obey God regardless of external conditions, then we are saved forever, and only then do we become people wholly gained by God.”

I joyfully said, “Thanks be to God’s enlightenment and guidance for making me understand the fallacy of the belief that “once saved is always saved and can enter the kingdom of heaven.” However, I understand that eternal salvation means getting rid of our sinful nature and being cleansed, and this is completely different from being saved once and receiving remission of our sins. This book really explains what true salvation is, and it turns out that within its pages there is a description of the path that will allow us to get rid of sin and be saved? If we could find a way to get rid of sin and could practically act in accordance with this way, wouldn’t we then be able to achieve true salvation and enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

Brother Zhang said happily: “Brother Yang, you are absolutely right! Thank the Lord, if we could find a way to rid ourselves of sin and solve the problem of our sinful nature, we could achieve true salvation and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This book speaks very clearly about this aspect of the truth, so let us continue reading...”

From the editor

Thanks be to God for His enlightenment and guidance. The condition of all of us who believe in the Lord is indeed as mentioned in this article: we sin during the day, and then in the evening we confess our sins and become so deeply immersed in sin that we cannot free ourselves. If our faith in the Lord is justification by faith, and we believe that once saved we are saved forever, how then can God's righteous, holy, and unchangeable character be expressed? If we want to earn God's praise and enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then we must actively seek a way to get rid of sin. Only such a decision is a reasonable choice of wise virgins! The editor would like to recommend that you watch excerpts from the film “Salvation” so that together we can find the path to entering the Kingdom of Heaven!

Theological concepts in the context of the doctrine of salvation

Freedom and Salvation

Most Christians believe that by the act of salvation God does not destroy human freedom (given by Him), but on the contrary, expands and strengthens human freedom.

Within Calvinism, there are views that the grace of God has irresistible power, and salvation does not depend on our will and cannot be lost.

Predestination

Calvinism, unlike other Christian denominations, places great emphasis on predestination. According to his teaching, the Lord supposedly predestines people not only to salvation, but some to eternal destruction. And although in earthly life it is impossible to know who is predestined for what, this can be predicted by indirect signs.

In the Bible

“And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: the righteousness of the righteous will not save in the day of his transgression, and the wicked for his iniquity will not fall in the day of turning from his iniquity, just as the righteous cannot live for his sin in the day of his sin.” righteousness. When I tell the righteous man that he will live, and he trusts in his own righteousness and commits unrighteousness, then all his righteous deeds will not be remembered, and he will die from the unrighteousness that he has committed... When the righteous man apostatized from his righteousness and began to do iniquity, - then he will die for that” (Ezek. 33:12-18).
“...and then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another; and many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and, due to the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold; but he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:10-13).
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, when they again crucify the Son of God within themselves and mock Him” (Heb. 6:4-6)
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved...” (Mark 16:16)
“They that heard this said, Who then can be saved? But He said: what is impossible with men is possible with God.” (Luke 18:26-27)
“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

How are we saved?

First: a person is saved by faith in Christ as the Son of God, the Savior, the Lord incarnate - and not just in some god who is somewhere far away and does not see us. No, we must believe with all our hearts in God, Who became Man.

Second: we must live as Christ, the Gospel and the Holy Church teach. A person must keep the commandments and adhere to religious norms. A person cannot fully fulfill them, and when he understands this, then he will begin to rely on God even more, he will need a Savior even more. He will become closer to Christ.

Third: salvation is a process of counter-movement of us towards God and God towards us. We are saved by the grace of God, this is a great gift. On the other hand, we are also required to have both faith and effort - the maximum that a person can give. This is called the principle of synergy (or collaboration): man and God work together so that man achieves the Kingdom of Heaven.

Everything is saving in Christ - both His personality and everything connected with Him. He incarnated to sanctify human nature - both soul and body. As Saint Athanasius the Great said, the Lord raises human nature to the level of Divinity. Christ is the mediator between God and people, the door through which he who enters is saved: “I am the door: whoever enters by Me will be saved” (John 10:9). He Himself resurrected, not for special effects or a miracle, but went through the Resurrection, and all Christians actually lead to it - the complete renewal of man. Resurrection is the next stage of human life, physical and spiritual, which each of us must experience. Whoever lived with Christ and for Christ’s sake will rise with Him and go to the Kingdom of Heaven first.

Why are Orthodox Christians so worried about their salvation? Do they doubt the boundlessness of God's mercy? How can a good God fail to have mercy on the people he loves? The belief that the Lord is merciful and will forgive everyone, both believers and non-believers, so you can live as you want - this is heresy. Everything depends on the free will of man. If during his life he did not need Christ, he did not meet Him, did not feel His love, he will not need Him after death. Moreover: such a person will not want and cannot be with Christ, will not understand Him, even if the Savior personally stands in front of him, shows His bleeding wounds and says: “I suffered for you!” The Lord gave us the greatest gift - freedom of will; we control our lives, and a person who does not want to know God will not want to know Him even after death. Clive S. Lewis wrote that a person who sincerely desires joy and happiness will not go to hell; people choose hell voluntarily.

The main thing is to want to meet Christ. Why do some people leave the Church? They did not meet Christ there. They went to church, prayed, took communion, but did not understand, did not feel the main thing. The one who met the Lord in the Church remains there forever, like the holy apostles: “many of His disciples departed from Him and no longer walked with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Will you also go away?” Simon Peter answered Him: Lord! who should we go to? You have the words of eternal life: and we have believed and known that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:66-69).

Christianity

At birth, a person receives human life from God and from his earthly parents. According to the teachings of the church, this is a temporary and imperfect life, and eternal, perfect, incorruptible life (divine life) is given to a person only upon “being born again” (John 3:3-8), that is, for this one must be born of God, become His child, through faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God and His atoning sacrifice.

At the end of time, all people will be resurrected, judged by God (Rom. 14:10-12), they will receive their reward or punishment according to their lives. All who accept Christ will be glorified and become the corporate expression of the Triune God on the new earth. For believers and those who love God, this life will be so blessed that even those who have received the Spirit from God cannot yet imagine it, “But, as it is written: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what God has prepared has not entered into the heart of man.” those who love Him. But God revealed this to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For which man knows what is in a man except the spirit of man that dwells in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us from God, which we proclaim not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:9-13) .

Those who do not believe and are wicked will not receive the gift of eternal life, they will be damned for eternity “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” (Rom. 6:23). Instead of eternal life, eternal punishment is prepared for them: “eternal destruction” (2 Thess. 1:9), “another death” (Rev. 20:15), or “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43, 45) together with the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). This punishment and torment will never end for them, it will be eternal.