The rule handed on by the Fathers is that whoever is guided solely by his own judgment and decision will never climb up to the summit of perfection and will fall victim to the devil’s ruinous power to delude.
I think you are pretty close to defining the differences between East and West regarding the objectivity of salvation.
The Orthodox Church takes a maximalist approach to salvation, seeing it as a process which ends in theosis, not only justification and an acquittal for sins.
I too was raised as a Protestant, a Baptist, specifically, so I’m extremely familiar with that theology.
Salvation includes forgiveness and justification but there is so much more!
From the same volume I quoted in my last comment, we read “To be saved is to be sanctified and to participate in the life of God——indeed to become partakers of the Divine Nature. (2 Peter 1:4)”
I also, humbly, submit for your research a supporting scripture certainly worthy of thought: 1 Cor. 1:18. The KJV translation, “unto us which are saved,” is not entirely correct. The Greek text uses the present participle: “who are being saved.”
In my studies of NT Greek this verse, in the original, literally directed my path toward Orthodox Christianity although it, too, has only just begun.
Romans 8: 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Protestants influenced in the Reformed tradition lean on this "golden chain" of salvation, yet do not see that it is much more than justification: being justified does not conform us to the image of His Son, and glorification is something far more than justification.
Also, thank you for the comment about the verse in 1 Corinthians. When I am asked about my "conversion story," I respond that it is still being written, with God's grace.
I think you are pretty close to defining the differences between East and West regarding the objectivity of salvation.
The Orthodox Church takes a maximalist approach to salvation, seeing it as a process which ends in theosis, not only justification and an acquittal for sins.
I too was raised as a Protestant, a Baptist, specifically, so I’m extremely familiar with that theology.
Salvation includes forgiveness and justification but there is so much more!
From the same volume I quoted in my last comment, we read “To be saved is to be sanctified and to participate in the life of God——indeed to become partakers of the Divine Nature. (2 Peter 1:4)”
I also, humbly, submit for your research a supporting scripture certainly worthy of thought: 1 Cor. 1:18. The KJV translation, “unto us which are saved,” is not entirely correct. The Greek text uses the present participle: “who are being saved.”
In my studies of NT Greek this verse, in the original, literally directed my path toward Orthodox Christianity although it, too, has only just begun.
May the Lord bless you in this journey.
Romans 8: 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Protestants influenced in the Reformed tradition lean on this "golden chain" of salvation, yet do not see that it is much more than justification: being justified does not conform us to the image of His Son, and glorification is something far more than justification.
Also, thank you for the comment about the verse in 1 Corinthians. When I am asked about my "conversion story," I respond that it is still being written, with God's grace.