“Salvation is historical (I am saved), and salvation is a process (I am being saved), and also, salvation is a future event (I will be saved). All three tenses of ‘save’ are found in the New Testament. Salvation is also universal (Christ died for all humanity), and it is personal (I am asked to believe that Christ died for me). Salvation is a gift from God. Salvation is accomplished by God for us. Salvation requires me to choose and decide whether I will believe and follow God in faith and love. Salvation means deliverance, redemption, healing, protection, rebirth, restoration, reconciliation, transfiguration, justification, sanctification, love and grace…though we have all been reconciled to God, that doesn’t mean our life as God’s children is without suffering, trial or temptation. We still have to choose to live faithfully according to the Gospel teachings. We have free wills and can spurn the gift that God has offered to us. Salvation requires synergy between God and us. We must cooperate with God in our salvation.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“…Paul speaks of salvation as a future happening. He writes, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 6:10). Today we emphasize that salvation is a process that will be completed in the future. The trials that we are enduring are bringing us closer to salvation’s rescue from sin and death and its healing of the soul…For those who run the race of faith, the finish line has not yet come into view. Paul emphasizes that we “shall be saved.” What is in the past is the death of Christ and our reconciliation with God by His death (v.10). Our love of God enacted by the Cross has overcome our animosity and turned us from enemies of our Creator into friends. But now we must live our justification and our reconciliation. It is not as if a verdict has been pronounced and nothing else is to be done…We “were saved.” We “are being saved.” We “will be saved.” This can only mean that salvation is not a moment in time but a process that is going on throughout our lives.” (Fr. Basil)
“Depth requires that we admit how much we do not know. We will not be saved by information, least of all, the shallow information of our current culture. The work of salvation is slow, patient, and deep. It is filled with paradox and contradiction – things that can only be reconciled in the context of a life that lives them.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“If the gift of human nature includes freedom, then that free choice must be ours, even if we should perish without reconciliation to Christ’s Father and our Father in heaven. Salvation is not a game that always results in a happy ending.” (Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky)
“God Himself undertook our salvation through the incarnation of His Son and Word, so that through His sacrifice on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead He could release us from the bonds of sin and death. Our progress towards perfection and our failure to achieve it aren’t events which unfolded far way, in the absence of God. Through His great love for us, which is the same as His love and the uncreated energy of divine grace, God wanted to retrieve us from delusion and bring us back to knowledge of the truth. It was precisely in order to restore our fallen nature and save it from sin and death that God planned our salvation and put this design into practice… The Lord’s Ascension is the visible sign of God’s reconciliation with us, but also the glorification of our human nature.” (Fr. Gennadios Manolis)