Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
What is the Christian’s role in being saved and accepting salvation? This question is one that rouses many different answers from many different people. There are some that believe that we can be saved in a moment. They can pinpoint their salvation to a historical event that took place in which they accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts. From then on, they believe that nothing they do can counteract that moment. They are forever saved from that point on. And this is clearly not the Orthodox understanding of how it is that we are saved.
Now, there are others who would claim that salvation must be worked out through your actions, almost as if it were transactional. This is to say that they believe they must earn their salvation through the accumulation of multiple good works. In this case, the believer sets out to do as much good as possible and believes that faith does not have a role in this play of salvation. Again, this is simply incomplete and incorrect as per the Orthodox understanding of what our role is in salvation.
What then is a proper Orthodox understanding of salvation? Is it faith alone? Is it mostly through my own works and actions? Well, let’s investigate this further together.
In the story of the prodigal son of Luke 15, we encounter a very interesting reality that speaks to all of us as human beings. The son turns to his father in the beginning of the story and he basically declares that he no longer wants his father nor his home, and that all he wants is his own self-seeking. And the father gives his son the inheritance due to him and lets him go, freely. Later, when all is lost, the young man comes to his senses and he realizes his sin, his grave mistake. He arises and he comes back to his father and he confesses his error, again, freely.
You see, what we see here is both the curse and the gift of human free will. With it, I am free to choose evil and leave my heavenly Father, and with it, I can also freely choose to come back and be united to my Lord and my God. The Church teaches us that by being created in the image of God, one of the great gifts that the Lord allows us to share with Him is free will: the capacity to act without the limitation of necessity; the ability to live as per my own pleasure. What this says, therefore, is that we are sons and daughters; we are not slaves.
In Philippians, chapter 2, St. Paul gives an account of the humbled and exalted Christ, exhorting all Christians to adopt the mind of Christ so that we may be willing to humble ourselves, just as the Lord did in taking on the form of humanity for the sake of our salvation.
He ends with that powerful passage by saying that God has also exalted the name of Jesus Christ so that all nations would bow down to Him and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. However, Paul does not end there. He does not stop at the idea of only declaring that Jesus is Lord. He continues with the following in verses 12 and 13. He says:
'' 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.'' (Philippians 2:12-13)
Notice how St. Paul is saying two unique statements. You work out your salvation with fear and trembling, and immediately after, he says: it is God who works in you. How is this possible? How can both of these two concepts coexist? Well, this is the mystery of cooperation with God, what the Church calls synergy or συνεργία (sinergía) in Greek, where God and man work hand in hand for the sake of common goal, which is salvation. So, if we are to answer the question of what is my role in being saved, the Orthodox Church would answer and say that you must work hand in hand as a fellow worker with the Holy Spirit in living a godly and faithful life.
Now, some may be tempted to ask the question: so, how much work is God’s and how much is my own? My beloved, let’s not be tempted to weigh our contribution in attempting to fraction out the path to salvation. Rest assured that what God does in the process of salvation is infinitely more important that what humanity does. The Creed tells us this very clearly. It says that it was for us and for our salvation that the Lord was incarnate.
He was born of the Virgin; He was baptized; He ministered to the world; He was betrayed and crucified; He died; He rose from the dead; He ascended into the heavens and He sent us Holy Spirit to dwell and to work in us. And all of this was His doing in paving the way for humanity to be reconciled to God. However, none of this means anything unless we accept His grace and we accept His love. This basically means that our salvation consists of two unequal but equally necessary forces: God’s divine grace and our human free will.
Again, what this means is that God cannot save you without your consent. God needs you to save you. Now, there are some who believe that God’s grace can be irresistible, even to the point where we cannot possibly refuse it. And we do not accept this. The Orthodox Church rejects any doctrine of grace which might seem to infringe upon man’s freedom. Both God’s grace and our free will, in faith and in action, must be aligned for us to be saved. And this is made perfectly clear in the saying of the Lord in the book of Revelation where He tells all of humanity:
'' 20 Behold, I stand at the door and [I] knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.'' (Revelation 3:20)
Now, God is always the initiator. He stands at our door and He approaches us where we are. And it is up to us, however, to react to his knocking on our door, not only by hearing the knock, but by also opening the door. The hearing in this case refers to our knowledge of faith and the opening of the door is the work that we must do. Both are essential. If I did not hear, I will never get up and answer. And hearing the knock without opening the door serves me no purpose. Only if I cooperate, if I open the door after hearing the knock will the Lord come in, meet and dine with me. And two great Church Fathers summarize this idea beautifully.
First, St. John Chrysostom says:
''God never draws anyone to Himself by force [or] violence. He wishes all men to be saved, but [He] forces no one.'' (St. John Chrysostom, Sermon on Acts 9)
Another great Father, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, he emphasizes and he says this:
''It is for God to grant His grace, your task is to accept that grace and to guard it.'' (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Orations 1:4)
My beloved, it is evident from all this teaching: the Lord calls us to work with Him; that while He has granted us salvation through His Son who stands at our door and knocks, we are called to work in synergy and cooperation with God, to hear His knock, to accept and persevere in His grace, to open to Him that we may be saved in and through Him.
Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And to God be all glory now and forever and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.