Sergey Hudiev

Assurance of salvation

FOR MAN, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE

One of the possible reasons for a lack of assurance of one's salvation, as far as I understand,– is an underestimation of the seriousness of sin. This may appear to be a paradox, but nonetheless it is true. For example, let's assume that in order to be saved from death I must pay 100 000 rubles. This is a big sum, but theoretically I can hope (in the possibility) of collecting such a sum. (For here are a few possible options that come to mind:) I will sell all my belongings; I will work hard 24 hours a day; I will; I will tearfully beseech my relatives and friends to help me and in the end, who knows–perhaps, I will collect the amount needed. While I will hope for this, I will turn a deaf ear to the (obviously fantastic) assertion that some benefactor is ready to immediately pay in full for me the entire sum I owe. (In fact), I will see in this some kind of dirty trick and deception. More than this, with irritation I will refuse this "good news" and see in it a dangerous temptation in that it could weaken my resolve to obtain salvation through intense personal efforts. Since I will consider that my salvation is a matter of my personal and heroic doing, then, of course, I cannot be confident in it (my salvation).

Now imagine that it turned out that I needed to pay a sum not of 100 000 rubles, but of 100 million rubles! Since I am clearly not in a position to collect that amount, all that is left for me to do is to give up and to rely upon my benefactor. In this case my assurance of salvation will be founded on the faithfulness of that which was promised–and if I consider this to be reliable, then I can be fully assured. When I am keeping even just some faith in myself, I cannot enter into true reliance on Jesus Christ. The Lord, as is said in a wonderful church prayer, is "the Help of the helpless, the Hope of the hopeless." He does not save those who also in their own strength save themselves. Therefore, here we see how the Word of God points out to us our helplessness and hopelessness–destroying all of our claims that we could save ourselves.

 

 The Holy Scriptures as also all the teaching of the Church point out that the nature of man was deeply damaged and mutilated as the result of the fact that mankind in the person of Adam set himself in opposition to God. Original sin–was not simply and event that took place in the past, but one which continues as a condition of persistent opposition to the Creator and one in which all of the descendants of Adam were involved. Saint Augustine describes this catastrophe that has overtaken the human race with the following words:

For it was by the evil use of his free-will that man destroyed both it and himself. For, as a man who kills himself must, of course, be alive when he kills himself, but after he has killed himself ceases to live, and cannot restore himself to life; so, when man by his own free-will sinned, then sin being victorious over him, the freedom of his will was lost. —For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. [2 Pet. 2:19] (Enchiridon, chapt. 30).

Thus, man could destroy himself, but he can no longer restore himself. The Bible describes the condition of fallen man with very dark words:

 —The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 )

擢or from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. —All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. (Mark 7:21-23) What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, —There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. —Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, —The poison of asps is under their lips; —Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; —Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of p eace they have not known. —There is no fear of God b efore their eyes. Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under 2 the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ( Romans 3:9-19) The Apostle Paul emphasized that until God had saved believers, there was absolutely nothing good in them:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

 

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another(Titus 3:3).

 Perhaps it seems that the Apostle is exaggerating. But this is not the case, for if we remember that in the eyes of an all-holy God every manifestation of hatred and disdain that we show to our neighbor is seen in the same light as murder (Matt. 5:21-22; 1 John 3:15). The same is true of lustful thoughts–for they are equated with adultery (Matt. 5:28). The Lord Himself said that through sin we are powerless and that we are in reality slaves of sin (John 8:34; see also 2 Pet. 2:19; Titus 3:3). He also says that He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10); He acknowledged that those who are not believers are "spiritually dead" (Luke 9:60, see also Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13); He said , as in speaking of an obvious fact, that due to our fallen nature we are evil (Luke 11:13). When the Lord was asked, "who can be saved?"–He answered:

展ith men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible. (Mark 10:27)

 This sounds like the final condemnation to all the descendants of fallen man in regard to saving oneself: with men it is impossible. But perhaps these words should be understood in the meaning of a comparative impossibility, that is–human efforts are fruitless in and of themselves (without God's help). Or do we here find support for the idea that though grace man can and should accomplish his own 3 salvation by his own efforts? Yet we know that the literal meaning of the words of Jesus and quite clear: with men it is impossible. The Lord did not say "it is impossible without God's help", but simply that it is "impossible." Nor did He say " it is possible for God on the condition of man's assistance." He simply said " for with God all things are possible. In this expression of our Lord, salvation as a fruit of human efforts and salvation as an act of Almighty God do not supplement each other, but rather they oppose one another. We do not see "both this and that" but "either this or that." This very same idea is expressed also by the Apostle Paul:

 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. (Romans 9:16)

 

 St. Augustine (Enchiridon, chapt. 32) emphasizes that in the words here spoken by the Apostle cannot be about both God and man co-laboring together to bring about man's salvation. On the contrary, the Scriptures here (as is frequently the case) indicate the complete helplessness of fallen man and point out that salvation is a work only by the mercy of God.

It is only of unmerited mercy that any is redeemed (Augustine. Enchiridon, chapt. 94).

Having been destroyed and enslaved by sin, man can do absolutely nothing to earn or merit his own salvation: For what good work can a lost man perform, except so far as he has been delivered from perdition? (Augustine. Enchiridon, chapt. 30). The Fathers of the synod of Orange (Arausio) in the year 529 asserted the principle of sola gratia–that salvation is only by the grace of God–as an age-old belief of the Church. No one can be saved, except through God's grace (Canon 19). The conclusion of the labors at the synod of Orange which was put together by Caesarius, archbishop of Arles, read:

Thus, in agreement with the above-stated expression of the Holy Scriptures 4 and by the determination of the Fathers of antiquity, according to the mercy of God we must preach and believe that through the fall free will has been so weakened, that without prevenient grace no one can love God, believe on Him, or do good for God‘s sake, as he ought unless first effected by the grace of divine mercy. Man cannot come to God (nor leave Him) by one's own will namely because this very will of is also affected by original sin. This would be like advising a person with paralyzed legs to walk to the hospital so that there he could be healed. He cannot come for help for this very same reason, namely that he is in need of help (that is he needs someone to help him). But in spite of such clear teach by the Church Synod, the doctrine of the complete inability of fallen man and also the teaching of salvation by God's grace alone has been challenged– and continues to be challenged–by strong opposition. In my opinion, this is not surprising for this teaching strikes not surface but rather the very core of man's resistance to God–the pretension of fallen man to self-sufficiency. Unbelievers are often inclined to vigorously deny the reality of original sin and many Christians underestimate its significance. Unbelievers say the that the teaching of the complete, moral helplessness of man undermines the desire and ability of people to strive for social and moral progress; many Christians fear that this teaching weakens the sense of responsibility and, once again, undermines the striving of believers to spiritual and moral perfection.

Inside the Church the tendency to deny original sin is more clearly manifested in the teaching of Pelagias of the fifth century which taught that man can and must achieve salvation by his own personal efforts. Unbelievers, as well as, the Pelagians consider that the teachings of original sin hinders a person in saving himself (in a worldly or religious sense). It will be easier for us to come to understand the question at hand if we recall what original sin produces in us. Sin–this is man's attempt to find all that he needs outside of and apart from God, and to find these things in himself or in the created world which man think is under the authority of his own rule. Pelagianism as a doctrine of "saving oneself" is not simply a theological error, but is the inevitable outcome of our fallen nature. 5 Fallen man is naturally a Pelagian. Just ask of the first person you meet and he will answer you that salvation is earned by good works and that man (especially such a good one as I) in principle is able to earn it.

韮ecause you say, —I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, (Revelation 3:17) We all with great obstinacy are inclined to deny our complete destitution and helplessness, our desperate need, and ascribe to ourselves some kind of merits, worthiness or virtues which should serve as our contribution to our salvation. St. Augustine, following the Apostles, strongly opposes such an illusion:

All that we have that is good be it small or great is Your gift; that which is ours, however, is only evil ("Flowers of a Grateful Life", p. 114)

 The Fathers of the Council of Orange expressed this yet more explicitly:

 No one can have anything in an of himself, except deception and sin. (Canon 22).

 

Regarding this point Paul also said: For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Galatians 6:3)

Saint Augustine was not being humble, but rather stated an established fact, when he said: I confess before You that I am nothing less than every vanity and mortal shadow or some kind of dismal chasm and dry land which without Your blessing nothing springs forth nor produces fruit, 6 but only disgrace, sin and death. If I at sometime had some kind of good deed, then I received it from You; I have no good but only Yours–the good which I received from You. If I stand it is by You that I stand; but when I fall, I fall of myself: I would have always defamed myself, had You not renewed me; I would have always been blind, had You not enlightened me・ad you not preserved me, I would have committed all sins. But in this I did not sin, for as You thus created and from this I had no part– For You commanded that I believe in You and also instilled this in me. ("Flowers of a Grateful Life", p. 115-116) Thus, every moral good, whether manifested in believers or in unbelievers, is a gift of God and not a human achievement. Solomon prays: and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them (1 Kings 8:50)

See also Ps. 106:46; 2 Chron. 30:9. Ezra also says:

Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. (Ezra 7:27-28)

 

 See also Ezra 9:9, Neh. 1:11, Tob. 1:13. The Scriptures state precisely that God awakens mercy and compassion in people–for when He leaves them to themselves, they inevitably come to terrible moral collapse:

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper. (Romans 1:28)

In the previous verses the apostle twice asserted that "God gave them over to degrading passions." This is difficult to understand otherwise than, being abandoned by God and left to themselves, 7 people fell into every evil and folly–they fell with such inevitability that one could say that it wasn‘t so much that "God left it to man to choose" but rather "God gave them over to [their own] degrading passions." This level of immorality which existed among the heathen (nations) was endured by God's grace for when God unmasked His shroud from "Roman virtues"–there was nothing which remained. This very same idea is set forth in these words and speaking of the Lord (in context regarding to Pharoh): "・e hardens whom He desires" (Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:18). Thus, to leave a sinner to his own devices means in effect to harden him. Therefore, it is God Who is the One that preserves the Christian in faith and piety, whereas speaking of all people in general–God also maintains these people through the means of a determined standard of morality in which society is allowed to exist. Otherwise, what purpose would we have in praying for the peace and well- being of our country when both of these depend on the "good will" of people (the majority of which are unbelievers), if likewise in the unbelievers this "good will" is not also to been seen as a God's gift. Or for what purpose does the Apostle refer to government authorities as "servants of God" but governmental power as "established by God" (Rom. 13:1-6), if the ability to maintain order and justice is inherent to people in and of themselves rather that being a gift of God's grace? The Scriptures also fully and clearly state that peace and justice in society is God's gift:

 釘y me [by the wisdom of God] kings reign, And rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly." (Proverbs 8:15-16; insert added for clarity)

 

 

 

 

It would be a sinful ingratitude to deny that many non-Christians can be highly moral people and can perform, without question, acts of justice and mercy which are worthy of high respect. However, this testifies not of the fact that man in and of himself and without God maintains a capacity to moral goodness, but rather of the fact that God can reveal His grace also in those who do not know Him (see for example, Isa. 45:5). Both Mahatma Ghandi and Mother Teresa have 8 by the grace of God done good things; however, only Mother Teresa confessed this to be so while Mahatma Ghandi did not. Thus, there does not exist any kind of good, which would be considered as "our own" and which we can bring to God as "our own contribution to salvation":

 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:16-17)

 The Scriptures clearly forbid linking the hope of our salvation with something in us ourselves:

 Thus says the Lord, 鼎ursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength. (Jeremiah 17:5)

Augustine emphasizes that this curse is related to the man who trusts in himself (Enchiridion, chapt. 114). If in some aspect of my salvation, I to some degree am trusting in myself and my own acts, then I bring upon myself this curse. Immediately after speaking of this curse, the prophet pronounces a blessing upon the one who trusts in the Lord (Jer. 17:7). It is impossible to somehow combine cursing and blessing; ascribing one's salvation to the mercy of God and simultaneously to one's own personal efforts. Trusting in the Lord means not relying on oneself in any degree. For the Lord Himself says:

 —I, even I, am the Lord, And there is no savior besides Me. (Isaiah 43:11) Thus, if I speak or even were to imply that by my personal, moral efforts I was ushered into the Kingdom of God, then I am no longer one who is being saved, but instead I am my own savior. Perhaps you, the reader, are outraged and are want to ask if this way of salvation then is simply sit back, do nothing and rely on the mercy of God? By no means! Both the Pelagian and the one who completely relies on the One who gives him grace (1 Pet. 1:13), "with fear and trembling works out his salavtion." 9 However the Pelagian ascribes (either fully or partially) his own faith and obedience to himself and therefore in no way can be assured that successfully complete his work. Yet the one who repudiates every hope in himself and trusts completely in God's strong hands for all of salvation and confesses that "with fear and trembling" one "works out his salvation" yet only because "it God who is at work [in him] both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (see Phil. 2:12-13). We labor at our salvation only in so far as God labors at it. Yet, He will accomplish His work to the end (Phil. 1:6), for it was not for the purpose of casting us aside in mid-process that He redeemed us and called us. Of this, we will speak in more detail in further chapters, but for now let us for a while dwell upon the catastrophic consequences of sin.