How is a person saved — by faith or by sacraments?

The Man Who Thought Salvation Was an Endless Cure

He was once asked a simple question: «Are you saved?» He hesitated, then answered as he had been taught: «Salvation is not a moment, but a long healing. I am being cured of the disease of sin little by little, united to God more and more, but I have not yet arrived. Salvation is a joint work between His grace and my struggle, and it is not complete, and may not be complete in this life.» He had been taught that salvation is not a verdict pronounced once, but a therapeutic path in which his will cooperates with the grace of God throughout his life, so that his soul is gradually healed and drawn into divine union. So he lived between hope and fear, not knowing whether he had reached the cure or not. Then one evening he opened the New Testament and read: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). «Being justified» — a completed act, done and finished, not an open path.

And the answer of the Holy Bible to the question of salvation is a single sentence which, once grasped, lifts a weight from every soul taught that its salvation is a work never completed: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, a gift received in the moment of faith, not a wage earned by lifelong cooperation. And the believer is justified — declared righteous before God — in a single moment, then grows in holiness the rest of his life as the fruit of that salvation, not as the road to it. As for the teaching that salvation is a cooperative process never settled, which confuses justification with sanctification, it contradicts the Bible's declaration that justification is a completed event received by faith.

What Orthodox Theology Teaches About Salvation

Let the position be stated fairly. Orthodox theology teaches that salvation is not a judicial event settled in a moment, but a therapeutic, participatory process: the soul is sick with sin, and salvation is its gradual healing and union with God (theosis), through a continual cooperation between divine grace and the free will of man, by the mysteries and spiritual struggle. And within this framework, justification is not separated from sanctification, but the two are merged into one path of healing and participation, which is not completed in this life.

And we acknowledge the truth latent in this teaching: yes, the believer is indeed healed, and changed, and grows in holiness, and becomes more like Christ — this is a biblical truth we do not deny. But the error is the confusion: making the gradual healing (which is sanctification) a condition for obtaining salvation itself, instead of its fruit. For the Bible distinguishes two things: justification, which is received complete in the moment of faith, and sanctification, which grows over a lifetime. And confusing them robs the believer of assurance, because the healing is never completed in this life, so the believer remains in perpetual anxiety.

Salvation Is a Gift Received, Not a Wage Earned

The heart of the gospel is that salvation is a gift, not a wage. The apostle Paul wrote it as plainly as can be: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). «A gift» — received all at once, not earned by stages; «not of works» — explicitly. And salvation obtained by a continual cooperation between grace and struggle becomes in truth a wage earned, not a gift received.

And the apostle Paul made clear that grace and works cannot meet in salvation: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace" (Romans 11:6). Either salvation is by grace freely, or it is by cooperation as a wage, and there is no middle ground. And the participatory system that makes salvation a partnership between the grace of God and the struggle of man demolishes grace at its foundation, for it makes it hostage to a human contribution that is never completed.

Justification Is a Completed Event, Not an Open Path

The key that unlocks the whole matter is the distinction between justification and sanctification. For justification is an event that happens in a single moment, in which the believer is declared righteous before God: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). «Being justified» is a completed act, done and finished. And this justification rests not on a righteousness from the believer, but on the righteousness of Christ reckoned to him: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3). So the righteousness is counted to the believer, not earned by gradual healing.

As for sanctification — the healing and growth in practical holiness — it is a path that extends over a lifetime, and here lies the truth the Orthodox believer holds fast. But the biblical order is decisive: justification first, as a completed event received by faith, then sanctification as a fruit that grows. And the participatory system reverses the order, making the gradual healing the road to justification, while the Bible makes complete justification the foundation of the healing that follows. So the believer is not healed in order to be justified, but is justified and so is healed.

Why Struggle Cannot Save

And why can human struggle, however long, not produce salvation? Because God is holy and perfect, and the standard of righteousness He requires is an absolute perfection, and man is wholly a sinner: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). And even our best works and struggle are stained with imperfection: "and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). If our struggle itself is imperfect, how can it bring us to the perfection of union with God?

And therefore salvation had to come from outside us, a complete gift in Christ: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). «Freely» — at no price paid by man, because Christ paid the price in full. So salvation is not a healing we attain by our struggle, but a righteousness counted to us by our faith in Christ who finished the work. And the justified believer is healed afterward, but the healing is the fruit of justification, not its cause.

The Thief on the Cross — Salvation in a Moment Without a Path

And the strongest proof that salvation is obtained in a moment by faith, not at the end of a long path of healing, is the thief on the cross. A man who began no path of healing nor deification, and had no time left to struggle, but believed in his final hour. What did the Lord Jesus Christ say to him? "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Today — not after a journey, nor after a gradual healing, nor after attaining a rank of divine union.

Had salvation been a cooperative therapeutic path completed by struggle, the thief would have perished, for he had no time, no work, no path left. But he received complete salvation in a single moment, by faith alone, and entered paradise that very day. So he is the living proof that salvation is a gift received in a moment, followed — for the one whose life is prolonged — by growth in holiness; but the growth is the fruit of salvation, not the condition of entrance into it.

The New Birth Is a Moment, Not a Slow Development

And the Bible pictures the beginning of salvation not as a slow development, but as a new birth — which is an event, not a process. The Lord Jesus Christ said: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). And a birth is an event that occurs, not a slow gradual process; a man either has been born again or has not. And in the moment of faith the believer passes from death to life: "is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). A transition completed, not a distance traversed.

And this does not cancel growth after birth; for the child who is born grows and matures, and likewise the believer grows in holiness after his new birth. But the growth presupposes a birth that has happened; it does not produce it. So the believer does not grow in order to be born, but is born and so grows. And the participatory system confuses birth with growth, making salvation a growth that is never completed, while the Bible makes it a birth that has happened, followed by growth.

God Is the Worker, and the Believer Walks in What Was Prepared

And it may be said: does the Bible not call the believer to struggle and to strive? It does, but not in order to be saved, but because he has been saved. For the verse immediately following the declaration of salvation by grace sets the struggle in its place: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). So we are created in Christ first, then we walk in good works. And the works are the fruit of the new creation, not its means.

And even when the Bible calls us to «work out our own salvation with fear and trembling» (Philippians 2:12), it immediately follows with the reason: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). So the worker is God, not a cooperation in which we contribute a portion of our own that completes His portion. And «working out salvation» is to bring out into daily life a salvation already received complete within, not to earn it by struggle. So the difference is essential: salvation is not a partnership between His grace and our struggle, but a gift from Him in which He works in us, after we have received it, to will and to do.

Theosis vs Justification — What Scripture Teaches

Orthodox theology teaches that the goal of salvation is "theosis" — participation in the divine nature, becoming "god by grace." It appeals to 2 Peter 1:4 ("partakers of the divine nature") and Athanasius's famous statement. But the biblical picture is more precisely described: believers are united with Christ (John 15:1-8), adopted as children of God (John 1:12), and being transformed into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18) — all genuine and deep. But Scripture never blurs the Creator-creature distinction: the believer becomes "like" God in holiness and love, not divine in the ontological sense. And crucially, the foundational act — justification, the full acceptance of the sinner before God — is not a gradual process but an immediate and complete declaration made at the moment of genuine personal faith.

Five Texts Confirming Instant Complete Salvation

Five Scripture texts together confirm that salvation is complete and immediate at the moment of faith, not a gradual attainment: (1) "Is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24) — completed past tense. (2) "Shall not come into condemnation" (John 5:24) — complete exemption from judgment. (3) "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1) — zero, present tense. (4) "By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14) — perfected, for ever. (5) "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43) — immediate, same day, no progression. These five texts speak from five different authors with one voice: salvation is received complete at the moment of genuine faith.

Assurance of Salvation — A Biblical Right

John wrote his first epistle with an explicit stated purpose: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." (1 John 5:13). "That ye may know" — not "that ye may hope" or "that ye may earnestly pursue." But "that ye may know" — certain, definite knowledge. God wants the believer to have assurance. Any theological system that makes assurance of salvation impossible or arrogant is contradicting this express purpose of Scripture. The assurance is not confidence in oneself but confidence in the promises of God — and God's promises are the most reliable foundation in existence.

An Invitation — Come as You Are

Whether you come from an Orthodox background, a Catholic background, or no religious background at all — the invitation of Scripture is the same: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). Not "complete the ascent of theosis." Not "receive the seven sacraments." But "believe" — genuine personal trust in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for your sins. That faith, when it is genuine and personal, receives in one moment the complete salvation God offers — forgiveness, justification, adoption, indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and the assurance of eternal life. Come directly. Come now. He is waiting.

Grace Not Merit — Titus 3:5

Scripture states plainly: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5). "Not by works of righteousness" — not by the ascending effort of theosis. "According to his mercy" — the mercy of God is the origin. "He saved us" — completed past tense. The salvation described here is an accomplished fact, received by the believer, grounded entirely in God's mercy rather than human effort. Every theological system that makes human effort a necessary component of obtaining or maintaining salvation has moved away from the plain teaching of this text.

It Is Finished — The Completed Work of the Cross

"It is finished" (John 19:30) — the declaration of the Lord Jesus from the cross is the most concise summary of the gospel. The atonement was complete at Calvary. Nothing remains to be added by human effort, sacramental participation, or gradual spiritual ascent. Hebrews 10:14 confirms: "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." The perfection of the sanctified is an accomplished fact — not an ongoing process of becoming more perfect. The believer who trusts in this completed work rests in a finished salvation, and grows spiritually from a secure foundation rather than striving toward a salvation that remains uncertain until the end. The peace that the apostle Paul describes in Romans 5:1 — "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" — is the natural fruit of resting in that finished work: not peace earned by spiritual progress, but peace given as the immediate consequence of justification by faith. This is the gospel. This is what alinjil.com exists to proclaim.

Closing — Receive Salvation as a Complete Gift

If you have spent your life struggling to be healed, never once sure whether you had arrived, the Lord is calling you to a deeper rest. Salvation is not a therapeutic path you complete by your struggle, but a complete gift received in the moment of faith. You do not need to attain the perfection of union to know that you are saved, for Christ finished the work, and justification is received complete by faith. Your salvation is not a wage you earn by cooperation, but a gift you receive by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Believe on Him. Receive Him as your own personal Saviour. And the moment you do, you are justified completely, born again, and passed from death to life. Then you will grow in holiness the rest of your life — not to complete your salvation, but because you have been saved — giving thanks to Christ who worked in you what you could not work by your struggle.

A Special Prayer

If you have come to see that salvation is a gift received by faith and not a path earned by struggle, you may come to God now, and cease from the attempt that is never completed. You do not need a path to finish, nor a healing to attain; the work is finished in Christ. What saves you is not the words of a prayer, but the faith that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you and rose again. So pray from your heart to the living God who hears:

"O great and holy and loving God, the one true God: I have spent my life struggling to be healed, and never once knew whether I had arrived. I see now that salvation is Thy complete gift, received by faith and not by struggle. I confess that I am a sinner, and that no struggle nor works of mine can save me. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. I trust in Him alone as my Saviour, and I receive Thy salvation as a complete gift, not a wage I earn. Forgive me, receive me, and grant me eternal life. I pray in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."

After You Have Prayed

If you prayed this prayer from a sincere and believing heart, then you have been justified completely in this moment, and have received salvation as a gift by grace and not a wage you earned, and you have become a child of God forever. Here are steps to steady you:

First — read the Word of God every day. Know that the King James Version (KJV) is the truest and purest copy of the Word of God in all the world, His true and pure Word, and you will find it on this website (alinjil.com); and in Arabic, read the trustworthy Van Dyck translation. Begin with the Gospel of John, not in haste, but with meditation and prayer, for God speaks to you through His Word.

Second — pray to God directly every day in words from your heart, thanking Him for the complete salvation you have received by faith.

Third — seek a church that honours the Word of God and preaches salvation by grace alone through faith alone, join the fellowship of believers, and be baptized in obedience to the Lord.

Fourth — grow in holiness with joy, not to complete your salvation, but because you have been saved, for God is the One who works in you to will and to do.

Fifth — bear witness to others that salvation is a gift received in the moment of faith, especially to those taught that it is a path never completed.

And keep reading the Word of God in the King James Version, the truest and purest Word of God in the world, and in the Van Dyck in Arabic — both found on this website — that you may grow in the knowledge of the One who saved you by His grace.

A Personal Word to You, Dear Reader

Thank you for taking the time to read this message about salvation by grace that God offers through the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have received Christ as your own personal Saviour, you have been justified completely, received the complete gift, and become a child of God forever, and you no longer need to struggle to earn what has already been given to you. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

We encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John for yourself, to continue in the Word of God in the King James Version — the truest and purest Word of God in the world — and in the Van Dyck in Arabic, both found on this website (alinjil.com), and to share this good news with everyone taught that salvation is a path never completed. May God richly bless you as you rest in the complete salvation His Son has given you.

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

This article has sought to address its subject honestly and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, without evasion and without minimising the genuine difficulty of the questions involved. The reader who finds the biblical answers compelling is invited to pursue them further — in the Holy Scriptures themselves, in prayer addressed directly to God, and in genuine engagement with a community of believers who take both the questions and the answers seriously. The reader who remains uncertain is invited to continue the search with the same honesty with which it began. God honours the sincere seeker: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

This article has sought to address its subject honestly and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, without evasion and without minimising the genuine difficulty of the questions involved. The reader who finds the biblical answers compelling is invited to pursue them further — in the Holy Scriptures themselves, in prayer addressed directly to God, and in genuine engagement with a community of believers who take both the questions and the answers seriously. The reader who remains uncertain is invited to continue the search with the same honesty with which it began. God honours the sincere seeker: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

← Back to FAQs