WEBVTT 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:20.760 What would happen if you removed Satan from the 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.280 entire Bible? If you deleted every reference 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:26.120 to the devil, to demons, to spiritual bondage, 00:00:26.219 --> 00:00:28.620 how would it change the gospel? How would it 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:30.940 change your understanding of salvation? For many 00:00:30.940 --> 00:00:33.920 modern Christians, the answer is not that much. 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:36.460 Salvation would still be about forgiveness. It 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:38.520 would still be about justification. It would 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:40.780 still be about being declared righteous before 00:00:40.780 --> 00:00:42.920 God. But when you read the New Testament itself, 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:46.039 something very different appears. Take the Gospel 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:48.920 of Mark, the shortest of the four Gospels. Even 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:52.200 there we see at least four detailed exorcisms. 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:55.340 The demon in the synagogue, the garrison demoniac 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:58.179 called Legion, the Syrophoenician woman's daughter, 00:00:58.299 --> 00:01:00.659 and the boy with the unclean spirit. And beyond 00:01:00.659 --> 00:01:03.799 those specific cases, Mark repeatedly tells us 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:07.340 that Jesus was casting out many demons throughout 00:01:07.340 --> 00:01:09.959 Galilee. If you remove demons from the Gospels, 00:01:10.019 --> 00:01:12.849 you would remove a huge portion. of Christ's 00:01:12.849 --> 00:01:15.010 ministry, which raises an important question. 00:01:15.230 --> 00:01:18.250 If the gospel was mainly about God declaring 00:01:18.250 --> 00:01:21.370 sinners righteous, why would exorcism occupy 00:01:21.370 --> 00:01:24.189 such a central place in Christ's ministry? The 00:01:24.189 --> 00:01:26.890 answer is that the gospel is not simply about 00:01:26.890 --> 00:01:29.829 solving a legal problem. It is about liberation. 00:01:30.290 --> 00:01:33.629 Humanity has been enslaved by death, by corruption, 00:01:33.790 --> 00:01:36.510 and by the powers of darkness. And Christ comes 00:01:36.890 --> 00:01:39.250 as the liberator of humanity. To understand salvation, 00:01:39.409 --> 00:01:41.689 we have to ask another question. The Bible constantly 00:01:41.689 --> 00:01:44.950 speaks about union. Union with Christ. Union 00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:47.230 with the Spirit. Union with the body of Christ. 00:01:47.469 --> 00:01:49.750 But scripture also speaks about other kinds of 00:01:49.750 --> 00:01:52.129 union. Humanity is born into a kind of union 00:01:52.129 --> 00:01:54.310 with Adam. Because of that union, we inherit 00:01:54.310 --> 00:01:57.109 corruption and mortality. The fact that someday 00:01:57.109 --> 00:01:59.730 soon, relatively speaking, you and I will die. 00:01:59.890 --> 00:02:03.129 We inherit that. And that fact alone is as serious, 00:02:03.329 --> 00:02:06.000 while not nearly as problematic, as original 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.960 sin and guilt or total depravity. All the explanatory 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:12.300 power for why we sin and why the world is messed 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:15.340 up comes from death and the demonic and our union 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:17.780 with both. And remember, when we use the word 00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:20.139 corruption, I just said a second ago that we 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:22.719 inherit corruption and mortality. Those two words 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.039 are actually synonyms. Corruption is like rust, 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:29.939 rot, decay. Think rusted car, rotten apple, moldy 00:02:29.939 --> 00:02:33.759 bread, soured milk. It's not yet being used metaphorically 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.099 for moral character. Today, it would be weird 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:38.580 to say, the milk is corrupt. We say it's bad. 00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:41.979 But then, bad could also be used as a moral judgment. 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:44.979 Bad and corrupt are synonyms in that way. So, 00:02:45.020 --> 00:02:47.580 if you think of words that we commonly associate 00:02:47.580 --> 00:02:50.039 with an immoral person, they usually started 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:52.639 from words that were describing decay or death 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.879 in the natural world. Depraved used to mean bent 00:02:55.879 --> 00:02:58.659 out of its proper form, like when wood warps. 00:02:58.699 --> 00:03:02.000 And then you can think warped. A warped personality. 00:03:02.340 --> 00:03:05.129 A warped mind. Rotten is more obvious, of course. 00:03:05.729 --> 00:03:08.770 Corruption originally referred to decaying flesh. 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:12.389 Spoiled could refer to milk, to a child, or to 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:15.330 a disappointing vacation. My point is, even in 00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:19.430 language, usually words that later refer to morality 00:03:19.430 --> 00:03:22.530 originate with death and decay. Then those words 00:03:22.530 --> 00:03:25.090 are used adjectivally to refer to our character. 00:03:25.270 --> 00:03:27.370 Think how scripture says, the soul that sins 00:03:27.370 --> 00:03:30.330 shall die. What does that mean? It will become 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:33.699 corrupt. It shall rot. it will decay. So when 00:03:33.699 --> 00:03:36.159 you think of corruption as in decay, then apply 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:39.139 that to moral character, that's valid. But notice 00:03:39.139 --> 00:03:41.599 the order. What came first? Because I've been 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:44.460 saying that that is the order of how we become 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:47.939 sinful. Dying doesn't make you sinful, but it's 00:03:47.939 --> 00:03:50.259 there first. And the fact that we inherit death 00:03:50.259 --> 00:03:53.199 doesn't automatically make us morally corrupt 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:57.000 until we act in fear in such a way that to survive, 00:03:57.180 --> 00:03:59.400 or at least to make us think that this will help 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:01.979 us survive, we ignore God's commandments. and 00:04:01.979 --> 00:04:04.520 essentially accuse him of not having our best 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:07.159 interests. Because when we try to survive without 00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:09.780 God, we're saying, we're accusing that we're 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:12.020 going to need to protect ourselves because God 00:04:12.020 --> 00:04:14.699 may not actually come through and protect us. 00:04:14.860 --> 00:04:16.339 And for those of you who know scripture well, 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:19.399 I hope you automatically think of Jesus reassuring 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:22.160 the disciples with, don't fear people. This is 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.939 a paraphrase. Don't fear people when all they 00:04:24.939 --> 00:04:28.019 can do is kill you. Fear God who can do more 00:04:28.019 --> 00:04:30.899 than just kill you. And then he goes on. Aren't 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:34.339 two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one, not 00:04:34.339 --> 00:04:36.459 one of them falls to the ground apart from your 00:04:36.459 --> 00:04:38.980 father. If you didn't know, sparrows were the 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:41.339 cheapest food in the market in the ancient world. 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:44.699 They're virtually worthless. And yet not one 00:04:44.699 --> 00:04:46.759 of them falls to the ground apart from your father. 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:49.620 Even the numbers of hair on your head, every 00:04:49.620 --> 00:04:52.860 follicle will make it to the resurrection unharmed 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:55.899 if you remain faithful. So do not fear. You are 00:04:55.899 --> 00:04:58.819 of more value than many sparrows. And Jesus' 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:02.810 logic is, This is something everyone thinks is 00:05:02.810 --> 00:05:05.930 insignificant, but the father, it's not insignificant 00:05:05.930 --> 00:05:09.050 to him. And therefore, neither is your life. 00:05:09.269 --> 00:05:12.050 Your life is very significant to God. So the 00:05:12.050 --> 00:05:15.189 antidote to fear, which would lead to self -preservation, 00:05:15.290 --> 00:05:18.250 apart from God's design, is fearing God because 00:05:18.250 --> 00:05:20.290 he loves you and will take care of you. It'll 00:05:20.290 --> 00:05:22.509 be just fine even if we lose our lives. After 00:05:22.509 --> 00:05:25.269 all, what does it profit? If we gain temporary 00:05:25.269 --> 00:05:28.810 survival in this life by sinning repeatedly and 00:05:28.810 --> 00:05:32.459 later, lose our souls. So the union we have with 00:05:32.459 --> 00:05:35.000 death and our susceptibility to the suggestions 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:38.019 and recommendations of the devil, of the demonic, 00:05:38.300 --> 00:05:40.819 must be undone. In a later episode, I'm going 00:05:40.819 --> 00:05:43.839 to go into the distinction between unclean and 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.480 sinful. But just for now, I'll say that in the 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.839 Old Testament, you were regularly getting yourself 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:51.699 unclean without sinning. And you were regularly 00:05:51.699 --> 00:05:54.720 sinning without necessarily becoming ritually 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:56.860 defiled. And then there's another word, defiled. 00:05:56.939 --> 00:06:01.370 You defile yourself originally, literally, with 00:06:01.370 --> 00:06:04.769 dirt, with mud, with filth. And then later that 00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:06.810 word is used for character. There's a natural 00:06:06.810 --> 00:06:09.470 pattern here evident in our use of language where 00:06:09.470 --> 00:06:12.410 eventually today you no longer see words like 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:15.269 defilement as originally being about becoming 00:06:15.269 --> 00:06:18.089 unclean, literally unclean, and eventually what 00:06:18.089 --> 00:06:19.990 was a metaphor loses its meaning altogether. 00:06:20.310 --> 00:06:23.110 But the order that is paralleled is death and 00:06:23.110 --> 00:06:25.910 corruption. So you start with literal death and 00:06:25.910 --> 00:06:29.870 decay and later that leads to Moral death and 00:06:29.870 --> 00:06:31.810 decay. And that's how it played out in our language. 00:06:32.050 --> 00:06:34.769 I think this tells us something. It starts with 00:06:34.769 --> 00:06:37.649 death and the demonic. So when this is our problem, 00:06:37.850 --> 00:06:40.410 original sin and guilt in the Catholic and Reformed 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:43.290 tradition into evangelicalism, it's not just 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:46.230 illogical. It's unbiblical and it's unnecessary. 00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:49.310 Our issue is union with death and the demonic. 00:06:49.689 --> 00:06:53.389 That's bad enough. That is a big problem. So 00:06:53.389 --> 00:06:56.110 scripture speaks about people being enslaved 00:06:56.110 --> 00:06:58.350 to spiritual powers. I'll speed this up a little 00:06:58.350 --> 00:07:00.879 now. The point is, union is not always a good 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:04.220 thing. Union can also mean bondage. A person 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:07.600 may be united to destructive passions, inclinations 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:10.480 driven by the desire to survive, again, physically, 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:13.540 emotionally, mentally, or even to nefarious spiritual 00:07:13.540 --> 00:07:17.139 forces. So the problem of salvation is not simply 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:21.540 guilt. It is misdirected union. Sin is failure 00:07:21.540 --> 00:07:24.899 to rightly unite with God. I said in the Born 00:07:24.899 --> 00:07:28.259 Afraid episode, That sin is self -preservation 00:07:28.259 --> 00:07:30.819 without trust. This is another way of saying 00:07:30.819 --> 00:07:33.360 the same thing. When I don't trust, when I don't 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:35.959 place faith, I cut at the union I have with God. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:39.620 If I keep cutting at it, I sever the union. If 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:41.879 I repent, God is faithful and just to forgive 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:45.639 me my sins. That means salvation is union with 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:49.600 God. Salvation is union with God, with Christ, 00:07:49.699 --> 00:07:52.459 with the Holy Spirit. But because humanity has 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:55.420 become joined to death, corruption, and the dominion 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:58.180 of the enemy, salvation means breaking that union 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:01.399 and restoring the right one. Unity is at the 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:04.079 heart of the gospel. Reunion with God, reunion 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:07.720 with humanity. The Eucharist's communion is union 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:10.339 with Christ and with each other, those who also 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:13.360 partake of Christ, and confess in unity, in unison, 00:08:13.459 --> 00:08:15.839 the faith once delivered. But this is why the 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:19.480 early church took exorcism before baptism very 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:21.920 seriously. The catechumen, the one preparing 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:25.060 for holy baptism, turns literally to the West 00:08:25.060 --> 00:08:28.860 and renounces Satan, renounces his works, his 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:31.959 participation in those works, in those recommendations, 00:08:32.340 --> 00:08:35.519 those suggestions, and his uniting to that energy, 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.799 renounces his service, and turns literally to 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:41.700 the East, to Christ. These renunciations represent 00:08:41.700 --> 00:08:45.259 and make real the breaking of an old allegiance, 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:47.879 the breaking of a false union. The person turns 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:50.379 away from the dominion of darkness and towards 00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:52.950 Christ. As St. Paul writes, he has delivered 00:08:52.950 --> 00:08:56.289 us from the dominion of darkness and transferred 00:08:56.289 --> 00:08:59.970 us into the kingdom of his beloved son, Colossians 00:08:59.970 --> 00:09:02.990 1 .13. This is literal, not metaphorical, not 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:05.830 spiritual in the sense of having only to do with 00:09:05.830 --> 00:09:08.049 your soul and not your body. You are a unit, 00:09:08.110 --> 00:09:10.870 a union of soul and body. Dominion is broken, 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:13.230 freedom is given. Where the spirit of the Lord 00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:16.509 is, there is freedom, 2 Corinthians 3 .17. But 00:09:16.509 --> 00:09:18.909 exorcism, this is not merely an ancient practice. 00:09:19.419 --> 00:09:21.620 In the Orthodox Church, these exorcism prayers 00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:24.940 before baptism remain the normal practice to 00:09:24.940 --> 00:09:27.159 this day, which tells us something important 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:29.919 about how the church understands salvation. It 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:32.820 is not only forgiveness, it is deliverance and 00:09:32.820 --> 00:09:35.200 new life. Now just think for a second, when's 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:38.000 the last time you've been to an exorcism? I've 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.320 been to several Orthodox baptisms, and it's nothing 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:43.779 like the exorcist. There are prayers that are 00:09:43.779 --> 00:09:46.159 prayed for the person, and these prayers go back 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.679 2 ,000 years. But when's the last time you've 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:50.919 been to an exorcism? I know it sounds funny, 00:09:51.019 --> 00:09:55.100 but the thing is, why did Satan go missing from 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:57.960 so many churches? I believe the reason is because 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:00.740 when you start with things like total depravity, 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:03.659 original sin and guilt, it becomes confusing 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:07.100 how Satan actually helps explain anything. If 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:09.559 anything, he makes the existence of him in the 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:11.899 pages of scripture confusing. I've already got 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:14.559 a problem bad enough. I'm damned from birth. 00:10:15.049 --> 00:10:17.830 I need God to save me. He may not. He may choose 00:10:17.830 --> 00:10:21.590 not to. Or he may let me go my own way and I 00:10:21.590 --> 00:10:24.929 never had a shot ever. That's bad enough. Especially 00:10:24.929 --> 00:10:26.970 when you've got an eternal torture chamber hell 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:30.509 idea that's coming next. That's bad enough. What's 00:10:30.509 --> 00:10:32.409 going to happen with Satan when these ideas are 00:10:32.409 --> 00:10:35.429 already there? He's going to disappear. If he 00:10:35.429 --> 00:10:38.230 doesn't disappear theologically, if you're a 00:10:38.230 --> 00:10:40.909 Bible believing Christian, that's not going to 00:10:40.909 --> 00:10:43.409 happen because he's all over scripture. but practically 00:10:43.409 --> 00:10:47.570 he's going to go away. So after the exorcism, 00:10:47.570 --> 00:10:50.429 then through baptism, something extraordinary 00:10:50.429 --> 00:10:54.649 happens. The person dies with Christ and rises 00:10:54.649 --> 00:10:58.110 with Christ. The old union with Adam marked by 00:10:58.110 --> 00:11:00.629 corruption and death begins to be replaced with 00:11:00.629 --> 00:11:03.909 a new union, union with Christ himself. St. Paul 00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:06.730 describes this as being buried with Christ and 00:11:06.730 --> 00:11:10.269 raised with him. An old life ends and a new life. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.480 begins. A new humanity begins. And immediately 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:16.200 after baptism comes chrismation. Through the 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.639 anointing with holy chrism, the newly baptized 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:21.720 receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now the 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:24.220 union deepens. The person is not only united 00:11:24.220 --> 00:11:27.059 to Christ, the person becomes a temple of the 00:11:27.059 --> 00:11:29.620 Holy Spirit. The Spirit begins to dwell within. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:33.080 The Spirit strengthens the human person. The 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:36.179 Spirit heals the will. The Spirit restores freedom. 00:11:36.340 --> 00:11:38.799 Now something becomes possible that was previously 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:42.460 impossible. the human person can begin to cooperate 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:45.399 with the energies of God. This is synergy. This 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:48.039 is the solution to the bondage of the will. Exorcism 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:51.620 and chrismation form the basis for real, functional 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:54.320 freedom to take the energy that has been gifted 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.100 to us as creatures and combine it with God's 00:11:57.100 --> 00:11:59.639 infinite energy. And it starts now, but it never 00:11:59.639 --> 00:12:02.559 ends. Synergy simply means working together. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:05.899 God acts, man responds. Christ himself illustrates 00:12:05.899 --> 00:12:08.440 this in the parable of the talents. The master 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:11.220 gives the gifts. but the servants must work with 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:13.440 what they have received. The gift originates 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.399 from God, but the servant must cooperate with 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:19.039 that gift so that it grows. The servants have 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:22.419 in themselves, from their birth, naturally, potentialities 00:12:22.419 --> 00:12:24.639 given by God, through the healing of the person 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.220 from death, from fear of death, by disentangling. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.960 with the energy of Satan, those potentialities 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.460 are awakened. And the gift given to us grows 00:12:33.460 --> 00:12:36.120 when in union with God's energy and it never 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:39.299 stops growing. Sin enslaves, grace restores freedom. 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:42.440 When the will is healed by the spirit, the human 00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:44.940 person becomes capable of working together with 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:48.000 God. This is why forgiveness is not the end of 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.220 the Christian life. It is the beginning. Through 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:52.120 faith in Christ, through faith in his resurrection, 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:54.639 his victory over death, the human heart is awakened 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:57.759 with hope. The will begins to be healed. the 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.700 person begins to grow. The potential placed within 00:13:00.700 --> 00:13:03.259 humanity from the beginning begins to be realized 00:13:03.259 --> 00:13:06.200 through cooperation with the energies of God. 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:08.320 Sometimes people point to the thief on the cross 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.200 as the model of salvation, and it is true that 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.700 Christ saved him, but the thief represents the 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:16.580 bare minimum. He turned to Christ at the very 00:13:16.580 --> 00:13:19.000 end of his life, but the normal Christian life 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:22.159 is not the bare minimum. It is the maximal transformation 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:25.080 of the human person. The thief shows that salvation 00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:28.059 is possible in a moment. The saints show what 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:30.919 salvation becomes over a lifetime. The fathers 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:32.820 summarized the goal of salvation very simply. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:36.559 As Saint Athanasius said, God became man so that 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:40.000 man might become God. Not by nature, but by union, 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:43.139 by participation in the life of God. Often they 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:45.779 described this transformation with the image 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:48.620 of iron placed in fire. The iron remains iron. 00:13:49.129 --> 00:13:51.710 You remain you, but it becomes filled with the 00:13:51.710 --> 00:13:54.710 energy of the fire, radiant, glowing, transformed. 00:13:55.090 --> 00:13:57.730 This is the image of theosis, humanity united 00:13:57.730 --> 00:14:00.210 with the life of God. So when orthodoxy speaks 00:14:00.210 --> 00:14:02.610 about salvation, it is not primarily about being 00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:05.529 declared righteous. It is about being healed, 00:14:05.710 --> 00:14:08.549 liberated, and transformed. The false unions 00:14:08.549 --> 00:14:12.169 are broken. The true union is restored. And through 00:14:12.169 --> 00:14:14.750 that union with Christ and the Holy Spirit, human 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:17.549 beings become participants in the divine life, 00:14:17.669 --> 00:14:20.700 partakers, of the divine nature. Listen to St. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:49.419 Peter from the NET Bible. We participate in God's 00:14:49.419 --> 00:14:52.919 nature, which transforms us, saves us. Salvation 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:55.879 is union with God. Assuming we have already disconnected 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:58.860 from death, from Satan, in other words, the corruption 00:14:58.860 --> 00:15:02.700 of this world, by reuniting with God in Christ 00:15:02.700 --> 00:15:04.980 by the Holy Spirit. There's a footnote in the 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:07.919 NET Bible on partakers of the divine nature. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.399 I'm going to read it. The NET Bible is a translation 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.659 done by evangelicals, some from Dallas Theological 00:15:13.659 --> 00:15:17.200 Seminary. Quote, he does not mean apotheosis. 00:15:17.769 --> 00:15:21.029 man becoming a god in the pagan sense, but rather 00:15:21.029 --> 00:15:24.309 that believers have an organic connection with 00:15:24.309 --> 00:15:27.610 God. Because of such a connection, God can truly 00:15:27.610 --> 00:15:30.970 be called our Father. Conceptually, this bears 00:15:30.970 --> 00:15:33.870 the same meaning as Paul's in Christ formula. 00:15:34.110 --> 00:15:36.590 The author's statement, though startling at first, 00:15:36.669 --> 00:15:39.149 is hardly different from Paul's prayer for the 00:15:39.149 --> 00:15:41.610 Ephesians that they may be filled up to all the 00:15:41.610 --> 00:15:44.669 fullness of God. Now, let's talk about something 00:15:44.669 --> 00:15:46.889 crucial, how different theological frameworks 00:15:47.370 --> 00:15:50.450 treat union with God, and sometimes channel it 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:53.009 in ways that affect how vividly it is experienced. 00:15:53.389 --> 00:15:56.509 In Reformed and Evangelical theology, union with 00:15:56.509 --> 00:15:59.190 Christ often gets framed through imputation. 00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:03.210 Adam's sin is imputed to humanity. Christ's righteousness 00:16:03.210 --> 00:16:06.309 is imputed to believers, and we are declared 00:16:06.309 --> 00:16:09.149 righteous. Legally, this is perfect and powerful. 00:16:09.370 --> 00:16:12.049 But notice what happens to union itself. The 00:16:12.049 --> 00:16:15.350 living, participatory reality of Christ in the 00:16:15.350 --> 00:16:17.779 believer becomes something mostly conceptual. 00:16:18.019 --> 00:16:20.899 Your nature is still mortal, still bound to corruption, 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:23.720 still susceptible to fear and bondage. Union 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:26.159 is present in principle, but it is experienced 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:29.340 through a status or a declaration, rather than 00:16:29.340 --> 00:16:32.200 a dynamic, energy -filled participation. The 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:34.340 transformative, freedom -giving aspects of union 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:36.659 are there in theory, but filtered through the 00:16:36.659 --> 00:16:39.200 framework of accounting for sin and righteousness. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:42.590 Catholic theology frames union differently. emphasizing 00:16:42.590 --> 00:16:45.710 infused grace through the sacraments. Baptism, 00:16:45.750 --> 00:16:48.230 penance, and the Eucharist communicate God's 00:16:48.230 --> 00:16:51.110 life and sanctifying grace. These are real and 00:16:51.110 --> 00:16:54.210 vital channels of union, fully honored and efficacious. 00:16:54.330 --> 00:16:57.429 Yet union is often understood in a mediated or 00:16:57.429 --> 00:17:00.929 structured way. One is in grace. One's soul is 00:17:00.929 --> 00:17:03.990 sanctified. One's nature is oriented toward God. 00:17:04.170 --> 00:17:07.900 The participatory, energetic experience The human 00:17:07.900 --> 00:17:10.779 person actively cooperating with God's life is 00:17:10.779 --> 00:17:13.619 present, but sometimes framed more in terms of 00:17:13.619 --> 00:17:16.759 moral and sacramental status. In both frameworks, 00:17:16.980 --> 00:17:20.259 union is real, life -giving, and essential, but 00:17:20.259 --> 00:17:23.079 it is often absorbed into something else. Legal 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:26.839 imputation, infused grace, moral status, or sacramental 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:29.779 participation. The dynamic, energetic aspect 00:17:29.779 --> 00:17:32.880 of union, the kind that awakens the soul, transforms 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.950 the will, and releases freedom. is present in 00:17:35.950 --> 00:17:38.490 principle, but not always experienced as tangible, 00:17:38.690 --> 00:17:41.789 ongoing participation in God's energies. This 00:17:41.789 --> 00:17:45.069 is why Orthodox theology emphasizes the experiential, 00:17:45.069 --> 00:17:48.369 participatory reality of union. Exorcism before 00:17:48.369 --> 00:17:51.430 baptism is not only symbolic, it helps the catechumen 00:17:51.430 --> 00:17:54.769 actively break the old union with death and the 00:17:54.769 --> 00:17:57.150 powers of darkness and turn toward Christ with 00:17:57.150 --> 00:17:59.569 their whole being. Baptism ends the old union 00:17:59.569 --> 00:18:02.210 with Adam and begins a new union with Christ. 00:18:02.589 --> 00:18:05.470 Chrismation deepens that union. filling the person 00:18:05.470 --> 00:18:07.690 with the Holy Spirit, restoring freedom to the 00:18:07.690 --> 00:18:10.509 will, and energizing the soul. Here's where synergy 00:18:10.509 --> 00:18:14.150 becomes clear. God's energies flow into the person, 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:18.089 and the person responds freely, cooperating with 00:18:18.089 --> 00:18:21.289 God's life in a tangible, transformative way. 00:18:21.490 --> 00:18:24.509 In contrast, other traditions, Reformed, Evangelical, 00:18:24.509 --> 00:18:26.950 and Catholic, still honor union and the grace 00:18:26.950 --> 00:18:29.650 of God. Rituals and sacramental life are meaningful 00:18:29.650 --> 00:18:32.079 and powerful. But Orthodox practice highlights 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:35.740 participation and energetic engagement in a way 00:18:35.740 --> 00:18:38.339 that draws union out of conceptual or mediated 00:18:38.339 --> 00:18:42.200 forms into living experience. Exorcism, baptism, 00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:45.420 and chrismation are not just rituals. They are 00:18:45.420 --> 00:18:48.680 ways for the human person to awaken to God's 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:51.180 life, breaking false bonds and embracing freedom. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.720 Salvation is therefore not only a declaration 00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:57.019 or state. It is active, ongoing participation 00:18:57.019 --> 00:18:59.920 in God's life, beginning now and continuing forever. 00:19:00.430 --> 00:19:03.829 In chrismation, you receive a cross, not to wear, 00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:06.869 but to bear. And salvation is not a status, but 00:19:06.869 --> 00:19:09.529 a living union with God to carry, live, and be 00:19:09.529 --> 00:19:12.250 transformed by every day. Next time on Trouble 00:19:12.250 --> 00:19:14.329 in Paradise, we'll explore the images in scripture 00:19:14.329 --> 00:19:17.509 that reveal this organic, participatory model 00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:19.789 of union, and how they can challenge the way 00:19:19.789 --> 00:19:22.670 salvation is often framed in Catholic, Reformed, 00:19:22.670 --> 00:19:24.789 and Evangelical thought. If you're enjoying this 00:19:24.789 --> 00:19:26.789 podcast, please share it with a friend and leave 00:19:26.789 --> 00:19:28.150 a review wherever you listen.