Introduction: A question that we need to be deeply concerned about is our personal spiritual status. Is there something missing in our practices that may be keeping us away from the “narrow path”? Could we have inadvertently entered the broad gate that the Lord says, “leads to destruction”? Here is an analysis that could help us apply our minds to this vital issue. There is a soundness in the faith of the Orthodox Church. But during my several years in the Church, I have observed that several of us make incorrect assumptions that are often a misunderstanding of Church doctrine or demonstrate a basic ignorance of the teaching of the Church, resulting in our unknowingly traversing the “broad path”. Here is an attempt to look at some of those issues and consider how we can be clearer in our status before the Lord Jesus. I conclude with the need for a mutually accountable fellowship with fellow Church members where we could help support one another as we strive to walk the “narrow way”.
Conventional Church Belief: For an Orthodox Church believer, what is expected is that the observances required by the Church are followed in order to help us on our spiritual journey. Beginning with the sacraments, such as baptism, regular attendance of the worship service, the Holy Qurbana, confession, communion, keeping the fasts, etc. there are practices that we need to sincerely try to observe.
Yet there is a problem! The Lord said that “you will know them by their works”. In spite of these observances being practiced by the “faithful”, it does not often translate to change into Godly behavior. Therefore Christ-like behavior is not the strength of a majority of the members of the Orthodox Church, and this includes members from both factions. Whether it is the laity or the clergy, there is something missing. The fight for property, the attachment and the love and dependence on money rather than on Christ, seem to be their hallmark. But real security does not come from money and possessions. Only Christ can give us security, true prosperity and all that we truly need. The absence of love for fellow Christians, the court cases that demonstrate a greater faith in the flawed civil justice machine, the inability of Christians to forgive each other and reconcile their own differences, are clear evidences of spiritual defeat. Hence the need to pray that the Lord will have mercy on us, who are His people, and give wisdom, discernment and humility to our leaders, so that they may no longer be a cause of division and bitterness, but would build unity and oneness, not only among our people, but among Christians of all denominations. The Holy Spirit will then enable us to be a witness to His name, just as we ought to be. A prayerful concern for this change is vital as “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it”. (Psalm 127:1)
In such a scenario, we cannot get away by blindly following the advice of the Church leadership or some highly respected clergy. It may not be acceptable to the Lord. We should respectfully listen to advice, but in the final analysis, each one of us must decide for ourselves how we must live. We will be individually answerable for all our actions. The Lord has given us a mind to think, and not using that faculty is likely to be sin.
Judgement: Some of us may be afraid of death. As senior citizens, we are closer to the grave than most others. What we do need to fear is not death but the judgement that follows. We will have to face Jesus Christ who will separate the ”Sheep” from the ”Goats”, just as the Lord taught in Matthew 25. The Sheep were told, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”. On the other hand, the Goats were told, ” Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”. Quite a terrifying prospect!
The Deception: It is significant that all those judged, whether as Sheep or as Goats were surprised about their status at the Lord’s judgement. Too many people are victims of Satan’s ploy to confuse people. He is “the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world”. The prophet Jeremiah, spoke as led by the Spirit said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”. Satan attacks us in this area of weakness and takes advantage of our ego, pride and the desire to please people rather than God. A popular deception takes the form of the argument that the Lord has such infinite mercy that He will never condemn anyone to eternal punishment. Logically this is a problem. The God of the Bible is the God of Truth and Justice, characteristics that would be a contradiction if a mercy that abolishes punishment is assumed. Another wrong teaching is about the punishment that one would face in Purgatory where one would have to suffer for one’s sins. After that ordeal, it is said that one would attain eternal life. Here it is wrongly assumed that we can suffer to make up for our sins. This is to deny the adequacy and completeness of the Lord’s death for our salvation. He bore the full punishment for all our sins and nothing more is needed. Further some sects do not believe in eternal death but in the annihilation of the wicked. This is is definitely not consistent with the Lord’s teaching. And some of us even give credence to re-incarnation where sin does not have any eternal consequence. Those who hold this view would argue that over several rebirths, all beings will merge and lose their identities in the infinity of the Divine. Again a problem, as Hebrews 9:27 says it is “appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment”. However, these popular views are very different from what the Lord taught or the disciples believed. Such beliefs make people indifferent and make them rationalize living life casually, unaware of the calamity ahead. Is falling victim to this deception justified for a Christian?
Made in His Image: Some people believe that our faith in Christ is based on blind belief. However there is no justification for blind belief. God has created us in His image, and two unique characteristics of a human being are the conscience and the intellect. The conscience gives basic guidance on God’s laws and morals and the intellect enables us to reason and come to rational conclusions to decide how we must live. Of course, it is not given to man to ‘know’, in the absolute sense, and we cannot be absolutely certain of most issues, but we can be convinced that an approach is rational and so our faith need not be blind. The world guided by Satan is attempting to deceive all people, but there are sane voices that could help give us a better understanding of reality and enable us maneuver through the confusion. A good example is John Lennox*, who addresses deceptive arguments of people like Richard Dawkins. A typical video from him is given below.
Salvation: A basic understanding of salvation is based on one of the most significant verses in the Bible, John 3:16. This speaks about God’s great love for us, so much as to cause Him to give His Son to die for our salvation. The key is to believe in the Son, as he who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. But the meaning of “believe” is often misunderstood or even misinterpreted. So many who base their assurance of salvation on merely having believed, may be wrong. They could be in real danger of being rejected as ‘Goats’ in the judgement.
Do you really Believe: What does it mean to “believe” in the sense in which John 3:16 puts it? It is far deeper than the way it is commonly understood. Possibly the meaning of believing in the Lord who died for us is to deeply desire to know what He taught, and earnestly strive to obey it. Jesus put it simply in John 14:21&23 “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” and in verse 23 “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them”.
Can we know: A thinking individual may find it difficult to readily accept the promise that having belief in the Lord’s death on our behalf is the means to salvation. To such a person, this may at first glance seem relatively subjective and also be perceived as carrying with it the danger of not fully understanding the word “belief”. But on a more objective level the passage of I John 3:14 makes it a verifiable experience where he says, “We know that we have passed from death to life if we love the brethren”. John rubs in the point by adding the contrary position in the second half of the verse, “He who does not abide in love, abides in death”. Being the oldest and first Church in India, we should be able to rise above denominational barriers and love everyone who serves the Lord Jesus, irrespective of their Christian tradition. While we are expected to love all people, we have a special responsibility to those of the household of faith, a community that cannot be narrowly defined as belonging only to our denomination, language, or socio-economic level.
The Second Death: As we will all face the Judgement of Christ, it is valuable to consider other passages on this vital subject. Revelation 21:8 says “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death”.
The first on the list of those who will inherit the second death (eternal death or eternal separation from God) are the cowardly, followed by the unbelieving. For instance, our response to the persecution of fellow Christians can be either cowardly or actively supportive. Read the following article** by a courageous young lady. She has been proactive in exposing, at great personal risk, the atrocities perpetrated against Christians. One is proud of persons like her.
If we love the brethren then we will pray for guidance on what we can do to support them. But if we are cowardly, we will at the most pray for them and get on with our daily lives. And perhaps also request that we ourselves do not become victims of such persecution. The second on the list are the unbelieving. As we have seen earlier, believing on the Lord Jesus is key to Salvation, which is accomplished not by any good deeds that we may do, but is a free gift that we receive by the mercy of God when we accept His offer, made possible by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Solution – fellowship: The Bible mandates us to ‘ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40)
To do this we need to encourage one another by “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. Hebrews 10:25
Fellowship with other Christians is vital to correction, encouragement and Christian growth. Apart from the formal worship services and normal community practices mandated by the Church we also need to meet together in smaller like-minded groups for fellowship in order to “Confess our faults one to another, and pray one for another, that we may be healed.” (James 5:16) Here we can strengthen and encourage each other, continue to pray, study the Bible & help one another to obey what the Lord the Holy Spirit teaches us, so that we will live as He wants. Thus, we can help one another to grow into His image, and when our life on earth is done Jesus will welcome us and say, “‘Well done, good and faithful servant!” Is that not what we most dearly desire?
Can we pray with St Basil the Great, “Grant us to pass through all the night of this present life with vigilant heart and sober thought, in expectancy of the coming of the bright and manifest day of our Lord”.
Joseph Kurian Puthooran
Bangalore
* A typical video from John Lennox: https://youtu.be/2Kz4OgXsN1w
** See Churches under attack