Be baptized and you will be saved
When I first learned of Orthodoxy, one of the hardest issues to come to terms with was the Orthodox doctrine of salvation. Specifically, I remember I couldn’t understand what in the world the writers were getting at. I was simply confused. They talked about heaven, but not as the place where “salvation” happens, and they talked about the church as the “Ark of Salvation” and said that many may not make it to heaven. To boot, they talked about Baptism saving souls, and then talked about how few would make it tot he kingdom of heaven. Then to cap the whole thing off, Orthodox writers spoke about saints who enjoyed heaven in the present, but seemed to take up the assumption that most of us would never attain to the heights of this beatitude. So what gives?
Well the Bible doesn’t exactly make the issue perfectly clear. Saint Peter says at Pentecost, “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.”
Now, of course, there is a simple meaning to this passage. We receive forgiveness of sins at baptism and receive the Holy Spirit, but over the course of our life we can walk in the faith of the Holy Spirit, or fall away. Thus, salvation is tied to walking by faith. Simple. I find this explanation in some ways a bit too simple, in as much as I do not walk by faith, seem to not have the ability to make the trip by faith, and based on previous experience have every reason to believe that if salvation is up to my faithfulness, there is absolutely no hope. Either something significant much change, or I will fall. Now that is simple.
At its worst, a misunderstanding of the Scriptures and of the Orthodox way leads to depression and giving up. If salvation depends upon me, then salvation is unattainable. I think in this misunderstanding, depression is inevitable. So, how can we avoid despair.
Well, there is another side to this “simple” meaning that I often lose sight of, but I was reminded of it this morning. He who is at work in you, is greater than he who is in the world. At baptism we receive the Holy Spirit, and with this life we receive new life “salvation.” It is unequivocally true that he who is baptized is saved. Now, that person may fall away and not attain to final beatitude, but at Baptism he was given the very life of God in himself, and in truth in him was implanted a new version of himself. Now this self is not actually new, it is actually the real self that lies deep within, but Christ having opened the door to this self by the Holy Spirit, has removed the sword from the garden and invited the baptized in. This is salvation.
Now the soul must make the trip to the heart to recover himself (so to speak), and it is this trip for which I am not equipped. I am saved at baptism. That’s simple enough. But, the walk I have ahead of me is much too hard for my own feet, and my brokenness gives way much sooner than expected. I am not able to make the trip to receive the benefit of Christ’s salvation.
Now, I am at a crossroads. The narrow road ahead of me promises a perfect end IF I can get there, while the broad road presents a destructive road that I can see (or foresee as the case may be). As it happens, there are angels and saints all along the narrow road who can show me the way and encourage my trip. These saints and angels can, in fact, see the narrow road because they have made the walk before me. Whereas, along the broad road, there are bones and abandoned camps as far the eye can see, no one has traversed this road to its end point, but many have traversed it, to be sure. The thing that is deceiving is not the end, it is the means.
At this fork in the road there is no deception as to what the end will be, or how to get there. The deception, the mirage in my eyes, is that there is a crossroads at all, and that there is a narrow pathway in front of me. In actual fact, the way is Christ Himself. Choosing the way, is to choose Christ. If I choose the broad road, i choose the mirage. And while I may choose the narrow road as a mirage, what I have actually chosen is Christ. This is salvation.
During the trip, as hard as it may be, I am accompanied by fellow-travellers, saints, angels, and the theotokos. Each of these, in as much as the life that God gave them has enveloped every bit of their being, these too are Christ. In me is Christ, the way is Christ, the saints are Christ (it is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me). This is salvation.
The mirage, the illusion, is that synergy depends upon me. The illusion is that “works” are my works, and that salvation is dependent upon “me.” In actual fact, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We are saved by faith in Christ. It is customary for Orthodox to say that Christ came and opened the way of salvation. This is very true, of course. But, for an ex-protestant who doesn’t understand that the Church has the hymn “God is the Lord, and He has revealed himself unto us.” He has revealed Himself in His incarnation and pointed us to repentance (the way) and Baptism (the imparting of Himself to us). He then points us to communion and confession (himself), and the life of prayer, fasting, and feasting (himself). He points us to his mother and the saints (whom He so lives in that they say themselves, it is not I, but Christ who lives in me).
The passions seem so real, but are in fact nothing. There is nothing in them, no kingdom, no power, no glory. As Lewis says in the Great Divorce, the problem with speaking of hell is that is so close to nothing. Our sin is nothing, our passion are nothing, our life is nothing on this path but a ghost of a life. Still heaven awaits beneath a light gleam of the water of the baptismal font, it disguises itself as a narrow way, it presents itself in bread, wine, wheat, and oil. It presents itself as prayer, fasting, feasting, and fighting the passions. But, if we do not forget it, these things are Christ.
If you will be baptized you shall be saved. If you will call on the name of the Lord, you shall be saved. If you confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, then you shall be saved. All of this is true, because in each of this cases it is Christ that we cling to.
