Regarding
Philippians 2:12 (Paul said that we need to work out our salvation in fear and trembling.)
Yes, I understood it that way for years as well. In a sense, that isn't far from what we believe either. Remember, we believe that we were saved, that we are being saved, and that we will be saved. We believe in a point of salvation, yes, but it doesn't end then. We continue to 'work out' our salvation in fear and trembling. We were saved, but we continue to cooperate with God as we pursue Him each and every day, and by His grace (and His grace alone) become more and more like Him.
Regarding
Matthew 7:21 (Not everyone who confesses our Lord Jesus will be saved.)
Very true. However, it isn't that verse alone that provides our viewpoint on that
I Corinthians 15
We always need to look at all aspects of the Scripture regarding salvation. There are two parts to this scripture. We are saved by that which we were taught,
if we hold fast to that word. If we haven't held fast to that word, we have believed in vain. Note that this doesn't state any end to when we need to hold fast the word, lest we believe in vain. Then we see the second part: it is not I, but the grace of God which was with me (that made Paul who he was). God's grace enables us to participate in our salvation, to hold fast the word and teachings that were given to us. Without God's grace and without our faith in God, our works are nothing. Yet - we still need to work out that salvation throughout our life. It isn't a once and done deal (in regards to our acceptance of the grace God gives us).
Regarding
James 2:14-17 (can faith save us without the accompanying life?)
I agree with you that if we have Christ within us, the works will accompany that. That's why we need to keep choosing to have Christ within us. If we reject Him, even though we accepted Him before, He will not force us to have Him within us. He gave us a beautiful gift of free will. This means, we are given the opportunity to accept Him, but we are also given the opportunity to either continue working out our salvation (continuing to accept Him) or to turn away and no longer keep Christ within us.
Once again, there are many scriptures that point out multiple aspects of our salvation. Several places in the Bible, people asked what they need to do to be saved. Let's take a look at a few of them (remember, an individual scripture by itself may sound like one thing, but when you combine it with other scripture, it may mean something slightly different).
Salvation requires belief (Acts 16:25-34):
I used to take this to mean belief is the requirement for salvation. Now I believe that belief is one aspect that is required for salvation. I'm going to go back to the verse I mentioned earlier about faith and works, and include some of the scripture around it (I apologize about all the verse being pasted in here, but I want to highlight a few portions).
James 2:
So this discusses a few things. Belief is not the only thing required for our salvation. Faith goes hand in hand with works. We can lose our faith (it can die).
For further discussion on the Orthodox view of salvation, justification and sanctification, you can look at this link:
http://blogs.ancientfaith.com/ortho...justification-response-protestant-criticisms/
A few more scriptures to look at: Matthew 7:3, Matthew 7:23 and Luke 13:27
I know I am going through a lot of Scriptures, and I am not fully portraying all aspects of the Orthodox view on salvation (it would take much more than a single post!).
One more aspect of salvation (which is troublesome to many Evangelicals), is about baptism:
Among the Orthodox, baptism is more than just a symbolic act of burial and resurrection, but an actual supernatural transformation. Baptism is believed to impart cleansing (remission) of sins and union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection (see
Romans 6:3-5;
Colossians 2:12, 3:1-4). We can discuss that more in future posts if you are interested.
Also, since the Orthodox view of salvation has so many aspects, I'm sure I missed some. I'm mainly addressing this now from the perspective of where I came from before, so please take this as an overview regarding some of your questions, rather than a comprehensive view of salvation. Greg's overview was very good for that.
I'd be happy to answer anything (to the best of my ability
).
