I lifted the following excerpt from a discussion on a forum (click here if interested). This is part of a short response by an Orthodox Christian named “Herman.” I want to post some more on this myself, but time does not permit today. I do like the simple way Herman explains this; he ends simply by saying, “this is our faith.” In Orthodoxy, one of the simplest answers we can give to why we hold a certain doctrine is simply, “Because it’s the way the Church has always understood the Faith and Scriptures.” We do not view ourselves as either capable or authorized to innovate novel interpretations of Scripture; we receive the Faith from our Fathers, and they from the Apostles. We do not formulate it ourselves. But, enough of my thoughts; here’s the short quip:
Salvation is always there, it will not be taken away. We don’t “gain it and loose (sic) it again” but neither is your free will violated. If our Lord holds out a rope to us drowning men, we can be sure that HE will never pull it away, but we never lose our ability to reject that rope. We still always have the option to let go at any time. This is why the Apostle Paul compares salvation to a race and continually urges us to “hold fast” and be constant, like an athlete so that we may WIN the prize. If you quit the race at any time before the race ends, you lose if you don’t start running again. And just because we decided to start the race, does not mean we have already finished.
Orthodoxy says we must keep running. It gives us the Holy Sacraments to strengthen us as we run. And God makes the promise that as long as we make an effort, He will be there at the finish line. In fact He is there all along the way, cheering us on, encouraging, admonishing through trials, pushing and pulling when necessary to help us get there, but He leaves the final decision on whether or not to cross that finish line to us. We don’t “lose” as long as we don’t stop trying. That is our security, that is our Faith.
