EO Confession

[Arsenios]

If our repentance is only a request to God to justify us, how then does God actually justify us?

We start it by repentance, God completes it in the Baptismal waters that wash away our sins, and the actual Righteousness of God is imparted by God in those who are matured in the Faith of Christ which He gave to His Apostles and disciples...

John wrote: "This is Life Eternal, to be KNOWING the One True God, and His Son Jesus Christ."

This knowing is the same knowing used to denote the union of a man and wife in marital conjugation, and for those perfected in the Faith, God GIVES this UNION with Him wherein man becomes by God's Grace what Christ was by His very Nature - eg We become Divinized [energized by God's Grace] in a manner wherein our walk becomes miracle working, where people were healed by the very shadow of Peter passing over them as they lay near where he would walk.

And within the Church, where Ananias hands healed Saul's blindness, and imparted to Him the Holy Spirit, as did Peter's hands and the hands of all the Apostles carried the power to impart the Holy Spirit to whom they would impart it...

It is a big deal, and defines the term Saint in a way that is not received in many Protestand circles...

Arsenios

 

[Arsenios]

If our repentance is only a request to God to justify us, how then does God actually justify us?

You have to remember that the Giants opposing the Jews were only encountered AFTER they entered the Promised Land. Goliath was not met by David until AFTER the crossing of the Jordan, which crossing is a TYPE for our Baptism into Christ.

At this point, as Paul writes, we run the race set before us, and get really serious about repentance, and come to the really big demonic powers arrayed against us, and we learn, dare I say, ENHANCED repentance, as we learn the narrow and straited WAY of repentance. "Those overcoming will be made pillars of the Body of Christ" means those overcoming sin in these far more savage encounters, which most do not have to deal with... This is trial and indeed Baptism by Fire... It is not for the fainthearted... Paul described what it is like when he described those called to be Apostles: "The most wretched of men... etc"...

Arsenios

 

[Arsenios]

If our repentance is only a request to God to justify us,
how then does God actually justify us?

Your question has stayed with me...

Repentance is not MERELY an asking for something, whereby a child might ask insistently for the GREEN balloon... It is instead a REAL, and dare I say ONTOLOGICAL asking of God for that which only HE can Give, without which life has no meaning whatsoever, and so one becomes willing to throw away the entire value of one's life for the sake of this one Gift, the Pearl of Great Price...

It is a turning away from this world for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, which says to God: "Give me your Gift or I will die, but either way, all I want is YOU... Without You, nothing means anything to me, and I will scorn food and drink and sleep and rest and clothing and embrace only labors and obedience and poverty until You give to me Your Salvation..."

It is hardly "only a request"...

Salvation, you see, is the Gift of Himself to us who are asking and seeking and beckoning Him for it, and words of request are only the opening step in this path that leads to God Who cannot be approached. It is God Who MUST have Mercy on our wretchedness, yet our repentance forces God to do so, yet only according to His Will, because "From the time of John the Baptist till now, the Kingdom of Heaven, Which is Christ, is suffering violence, and the violent are taking it by force...", and that force is the power of saying NO to one's self in self-denial, taking up one's own cross, and following Christ...

This is a Mystery which must be embraced and entered...
It does not suffer fallen human reasoning...
It is far beyond such prattle...
It is THE Faith of Christ which He GAVE to His Disciples...
Who passed it on to us...

It is the greatest request you ever can ACTUALLY make.
And the only ACTUAL request for this Gift is repentance...

"If anyone is willing after Me to be following...
Let him FIRST deny himself..."

"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

Arsenios

 

[RC1970]

Your question has stayed with me...

Repentance is not MERELY an asking for something, whereby a child might ask insistently for the GREEN balloon... It is instead a REAL, and dare I say ONTOLOGICAL asking of God for that which only HE can Give, without which life has no meaning whatsoever, and so one becomes willing to throw away the entire value of one's life for the sake of this one Gift, the Pearl of Great Price...

It is a turning away from this world for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, which says to God: "Give me your Gift or I will die, but either way, all I want is YOU... Without You, nothing means anything to me, and I will scorn food and drink and sleep and rest and clothing and embrace only labors and obedience and poverty until You give to me Your Salvation..."

It is hardly "only a request"...

Salvation, you see, is the Gift of Himself to us who are asking and seeking and beckoning Him for it, and words of request are only the opening step in this path that leads to God Who cannot be approached. It is God Who MUST have Mercy on our wretchedness, yet our repentance forces God to do so, yet only according to His Will, because "From the time of John the Baptist till now, the Kingdom of Heaven, Which is Christ, is suffering violence, and the violent are taking it by force...", and that force is the power of saying NO to one's self in self-denial, taking up one's own cross, and following Christ...

This is a Mystery which must be embraced and entered...
It does not suffer fallen human reasoning...
It is far beyond such prattle...
It is THE Faith of Christ which He GAVE to His Disciples...
Who passed it on to us...

It is the greatest request you ever can ACTUALLY make.
And the only ACTUAL request for this Gift is repentance...

"If anyone is willing after Me to be following...
Let him FIRST deny himself..."

"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

Arsenios

Thanks for your reply. I believe you have summed it up correctly. From what you have said, I thought of these two parts of Scripture

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ~ Acts 2:38-39

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." ~ Philippians 2:12-13

I'm sure there are many more verses to quote, but I think these are sufficient.

Thanks again