“From beginning to end, in the work of man’s conversion and sanctification there run side by side two lines: divine grace and human free will.”
- Panagiotis Trembelas in How Are We Saved? By Kallistos Ware.
Before I took any steps to seek out Orthodoxy, I was pretty immersed in the Grace Movement, and now I’m finding my place in Orthodoxy, convinced that my whole Christian journey has been steps in this direction. I am walking away from the Grace Movement. I found myself stuck on a continuum between divine grace and human free will, and now I see that it isn’t a continuum at all. But, how does it work? Isn’t everything finished now for us? Is it just a free ride for the human race because of what God has accomplished for us in Christ? Months of catechumen classes, study, prayer and asking questions have brought me to this point.
I’m currently reading The Orthodox Understanding of Salvation: “Theosis” in Scripture and Tradition, by Christopher Veniamin. It is helping me to more clearly understand the balance between divine grace and our wills. Like Jesus, we have two natures, and during Jesus’s life here, his human nature became “perfected.” And, everything he accomplished together with Father and Holy Spirit makes POSSIBLE the same to happen for us. Thanks to Christ’s Ascension, our fallen nature has been raised to its intended position and our whole human person can now be “saved.” That possibility is guaranteed, along with the fact that all will be raised in the Resurrection, and all will live. But, while we are here, in order for our natures to become perfected, as was Jesus’, we learn, we pray, we worship, we fast, we become obedient and humble, we love and we heal (ourselves as well as others.) These are not “works;” these are our reception of the gift of God’s grace and our participation in the Kingdom now.
So, it is not a given that perfection automatically happens for everyone. We clearly need to participate, as Jesus did. We need to cooperate with this process, and that cooperation and participation matters. In our appropriation, our taking the Kingdom Life for ourselves and our taking care of and preserving the wonderful gift we have been given, God blesses us and leads us ever onward. The results of this are our transformation and God’s love in our hearts, which grows as we grow.
St. Nicholas Cabasilus in The Life in Christ says, “In this present world, therefore, it is possible for the saints not only to be disposed and prepared for that life, but also even now to live and act in accordance with it” (p. 45). He tells us that if we don’t engage in the process of deification now, how will we know how to navigate the life to come? He likens it to the necessity of acquiring the senses we will need in the future Kingdom as we live and cooperate with God here and now, because, otherwise, what will we have in common with that life in the future?
All of this makes so much sense to me and helps me to understand how and why we have our spiritual practices, and that it is not about “earning” anything at all, but, rather, it’s a grateful response and a glad participation in the Life and grace we have been given.
Eileen Robbins
It is frightening to assess our manner of living here as preparatory for there. So I love Him.
Posted by: Thomas Wright | April 12, 2020 at 01:59 PM