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Metropolitan Saba: seek out those absent from the church

Metropolitan Saba: seek out those absent from the church

Metropolitan Saba says: "We have an opportunity to search for those who have been absent from the church lest they fall away forever, seeking them out for the sake of their salvation."

Main points

  • Search for those absent from the church before they fall away forever
  • Seek them out for the sake of their salvation
6 opinions in the discussion 6 participants, 2 replies to each other The opinion with the most support "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12 Read the discussion
8 comments at the source Original on Instagram

Discussion · 6

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  • opinion#1738

    "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12

  • opinion#1737

    "Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.'" John 10:25-30 ESV

  • opinion#1735

    St. Paul's image of the spiritual athlete (1 Cor 9:24-27) fits here. This is working out salvation "with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12). Salvation is a process of faith, freedom and personal effort to keep Christ's command to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:37-39). Scripture isn't privately interpreted; holy men spoke as moved by the Holy Spirit. "By grace you have been saved through faith" (Eph 2:8). Present tense: "to us who are being saved" the cross is God's power (1 Cor 1:18). Future tense: "he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Mt 24:13). Hebrews 6:4-6 warns that even those "once enlightened" and "partakers of the Holy Spirit" can fall away and crucify Christ again. Galatians 5:4: "You have fallen from grace." And 1 Cor 9:27: even Paul disciplined his body lest he himself be disqualified.

  • opinion#1736

    I think salvation can be lost, but there's also the case of people in the church who were never saved to begin with. I don't think Judas was ever saved and then lost it. He was the son of perdition, unclean from the start.

    • opinion#1739

      That part we can't be sure of. Consider the parable of the sower: some receive the good word but aren't rooted and get snatched away by the evil one. There are many ways to look at Judas. Remember he chose to follow Christ but failed under temptation. The Saints make it very clear we can fall into the same thing, so we have to keep our mind and heart guarded at all times.

    • opinion#1740

      You can also choose to follow Christ for false motivations, which means there was no true root from the start. There are all kinds of theories about Judas, one being that he expected Christ to set up a physical kingdom and crush Israel's enemies. There are just too many verses describing Judas as never having salvation. I could cite them all, just not off the top of my head right now.