But we are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition, but of faith to the saving of the soul.
ημεις δε ουκ εσμεν υποστολης εις απωλειαν αλλα πιστεως εις περιποιησιν ψυχης
6 Church Fathers comment on this verse · 7 commentaries
Since he had frightened them with the words, "My soul has no pleasure," he says that we are not among those who perish because of wavering and falling into faintheartedness or doubt. Rather, we are among those firm in faith, so as to preserve our own souls, that is, to acquire, keep, and save them. For possession, or acquisition, is salvation.
There is faith in us, working through love (Gal 5:6) toward righteousness, and not so much from fear of punishment as from love of righteousness.
And yet the soul does not become righteous without the participation of One better, who justly judges the ungodly. For what does it have that it did not receive? (1 Cor 4:7).
It is not fitting to boast, ascribing to oneself what belongs to God, as though one had not received it from Him. Of this it is said, “Do not be proud, but fear” (Rom 11:20).
This fear is known also to those who, by faith, are living heirs of the New Covenant and stand in faith for the salvation of the soul.
Therefore no one living shall be justified before God (Ps 143:2), but “the righteous shall live by faith.” The saints also were clothed in righteousness (Job 29:14), one more and another less.
No one lives here without sin, one more and another less. The better man is the one who has least of all.
Not to Thee, O Lord, but before Thee I speak to my family, the family of mankind, however small the number may be of those into whose hands this book comes.
And why? Surely so that I, and everyone who reads, may consider from what abyss one must cry to Thee.
And what is nearer to Thy ears than the heart that confesses to Thee and lives by Thy faith?
And will there be found any of us who dares to say, “I am righteous”? I think that the words “I am righteous” also mean “I am not a sinner.”
If you dare to say this, John hastens to meet you: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8).
What then? Do we have no righteousness in us at all? Let us ask ourselves: do we have something, or do we have nothing?
What we have grows, and what we do not yet possess will be fulfilled. Here with us are baptized people. All their transgressions have been washed away, and they have been justified from sins.
Yet we cannot deny that the struggle with the flesh remains. The struggle with the world remains. The struggle with the devil also remains, and he too fights.
At times he strikes, and at times he receives blows. Sometimes he conquers, and sometimes he is left with nothing.
Then the important moment comes, and the man leaves the arena. And indeed, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8).
Likewise, if we say that we have no righteousness, we deceive ourselves against the gift of God. For if we have no righteousness, then we also have no faith.
If we have no faith, then we are no longer Christians. But if we have faith, then we already have some righteousness.
Do you wish to know how much this “some” is? “The righteous shall live by faith.” I repeat to you: the righteous shall live by faith, because he believes what he does not see.
This righteousness is given by the grace of the New Covenant. Its righteous ones are faithful to it, since they live by faith.
They do so until, when righteousness is completed, they are brought to the state of perfect contemplation of God, together with the immortality of the body after salvation has been accomplished.
Therefore in another place the Apostle says, “Therefore we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were exhorting through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20).
And he adds, “For Him who knew no sin He made to be sin,” which means a sacrifice for sins. In the law, sacrifices for sins were also called sin.
He did this “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). This means in His body, which is the Church, whose head is God, that we may become righteous before God.
But we do not remain in doubt, which harms the completion of our contest and leads us to perdition. Rather, we stand in the faith by which we accomplish the acquisition of our soul, and which raises us above all things.
We are not guilty of falling away from the faith, so as to perish through it. For if the righteous shall live by faith, then the unbeliever is already unrighteous and will not live. And whoever will not live will therefore utterly perish. But we hold to faith in order to preserve our soul for ourselves, that is, our life. For, as it has been said, the righteous shall live by faith. Then he gives a definition of faith and explains what it is, so that by this definition he may persuade them to believe still more firmly.
faith which receives the saving power of the Mysteries, and in special cases is marked by wonderworking gifts. Yet even this kind of faith, even wonderworking faith, can sometimes be incomplete, unjustifying, and unsaving. The truly fearful saying of Christ does not allow us to doubt this: "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness'" (Mt 7:22-23).
Therefore the necessary completion of faith, so that it may be justifying and saving, must be faithfulness. The Apostle points to this completion of faith when he says: "The righteous shall live by faith; and if he draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we, brethren, are not of drawing back to destruction, but of faith to the preservation of the soul" (Heb 10:38-39).
Faith opposed to destructive drawing back, wavering, retreat, inconstancy, and betrayal is faithfulness. It is faithfulness to God and Christ in the unchanging confession of the Orthodox faith. It is faithfulness in relation to God's commandments, consisting in diligent fulfillment of them. It is faithfulness in relation to the Mysteries, gifts, and ministries, by careful use of them according to God's intention, to the glory of God.
Yet even this kind of faith, even wonderworking faith, can sometimes be incomplete, unjustifying, and unsaving. The truly fearful saying of Christ does not allow us to doubt this: "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness'" (Mt 7:22-23).
Therefore the necessary completion of faith, so that it may be justifying and saving, must be faithfulness. The Apostle points to this completion of faith when he says: "The righteous shall live by faith; and if he draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we, brethren, are not of drawing back to destruction, but of faith to the preservation of the soul" (Heb 10:38-39).
Faith opposed to destructive drawing back, wavering, retreat, inconstancy, and betrayal is faithfulness. It is faithfulness to God and Christ in the unchanging confession of the Orthodox faith. It is faithfulness in relation to God's commandments, consisting in diligent fulfillment of them. It is faithfulness in relation to the Mysteries, gifts, and ministries, by careful use of them according to God's intention, to the glory of God.
Christian courage and patience are very useful to have at the present time, because the day of Christ's coming and of recompense to each according to his works is already not far off.
The prophet Habakkuk also said that the righteous shall live by faith, and that if he does not stand firm in the struggle, God will have no pleasure in him. Nevertheless, the Apostle comforts his readers: we do not belong to such unstable people, but believe firmly, so that we may hope for the salvation of our soul.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 12 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS