Thomism anyone?

[ICTHUS]

[quote name='Apotheoun' date='Dec 25 2004, 10:53 PM'] That is interesting, and I agree the language of the Eastern liturgy is majestic, but even more impressive is the iconography. To really comprehend the nature of the Byzantine liturgy one needs to understand the nature of salvation as a participation in the divine nature, and not merely as some type of non-imputation of sins. The whole point of the incarnation is the elevation of man into the uncreated life of the Triune God.

Merry Christmas,
Todd [/quote]
Actually, I agree. Evangelicals have a tendency to regard salvation merely in terms of justification - God's imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, and our sin to Him. But it is so much more than that. It is God taking us into His home, dressing us in a fine robe, putting a ring on our finger, and saying "You are My child".

"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called [b]sons of God[/b]! And so we are!"

I get a shiver down my spine when I read that passage in St. John.

Justification is a tremendous blessing inherent in the Holy Gospel, but it is by no means the chief. Rather, adoption as a son of God, is.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='ICTHUS' date='Dec 25 2004, 09:04 PM'] Actually, I agree. Evangelicals have a tendency to regard salvation merely in terms of justification - God's imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, and our sin to Him. But it is so much more than that. It is God taking us into His home, dressing us in a fine robe, putting a ring on our finger, and saying "You are My child".

"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called [b]sons of God[/b]! And so we are!"

I get a shiver down my spine when I read that passage in St. John.

Justification is a tremendous blessing inherent in the Holy Gospel, but it is by no means the chief. Rather, adoption as a son of God, is. [/quote]
The whole of the Eastern theological tradition rejects any notion of salvation as either a non-imputation of sins, or as an imputation of Christ's righteousness. Instead, it holds that man truly participates in Christ's own righteousness through an infusion of God's uncreated energies; and as a consequence, the Lord's own sanctity becomes intrinsically the justified man's own sanctity. In other words, man, at the level of energy, becomes uncreated by grace, and so all that Christ is essentially, man becomes energetically. The man who has entered into communion with God by grace has been illuminated, purified, sanctified, and deified by participating in God's own uncreated life and glory.

The divinized man is a true icon of Christ, for just as Christ is one divine person in two natures after the incarnation; so too, the deified man is one created human person in two natures after he has been infused with God's uncreated energy.

God bless,
Todd