Questions
Copy these questions into an email, provide brief answers, and send to Fr Charles who will comment on them. After you have received you comments, then you can go onto the next lesson.
This chapter presents the Orthodox understanding of faith as a living relationship with God rather than mere intellectual belief. God remains a divine mystery in His essence, yet truly shares His life with us through His energies and grace. Salvation is understood as a lifelong journey of transformation—theosis—in which we freely cooperate with God’s grace within the sacramental and communal life of the Church. The questions that follow invite reflection on how faith is lived, experienced, and embodied in daily life.
Question for Lesson 4: Faith as a Lived Relationship with God
I. Faith as Living Relationship
1. How does the Orthodox understanding of faith differ from the idea of faith as merely intellectual belief or mental agreement?
2. Why does the Orthodox Church describe faith as a lived way of life and communion with God rather than simply believing certain ideas about God?
II. Knowing and Experiencing God
3. In Orthodox theology, what does it mean to say that God is both unknowable in His essence and yet truly knowable through His energies? Why does this distinction matter in a life of faith?
4. How is grace understood in Orthodoxy, and how does participating in God’s grace shape a believer’s relationship with Him?
III. God Dwelling in Us
5. What does it mean to say that God dwells in us, and how do the Scriptures and sacraments reveal this reality in the life of the Church?
6. How does God’s indwelling presence transform the believer and lead toward theosis (union with God)?
IV. Salvation as Transformation and Synergy
7. How does Orthodox Christianity understand salvation as a lifelong process rather than a one-time event, and why is human cooperation with God’s grace essential in this journey?
8. What is synergy, and how do God’s grace and human free will work together in the process of salvation?
V. Life in the Church
9. Why is participation in the sacramental and communal life of the Church essential for spiritual growth and salvation in Orthodox Christianity?
VI. Living the Faith
10. How should an Orthodox understanding of faith, grace, and theosis shape the way a Christian lives daily—especially in prayer, repentance, love, and perseverance?
VII. Integrative Reflection Question
How does the Orthodox vision of living faith—centered on participation in God’s grace, growth through synergy, and life within the Church—reshape the way we understand salvation and our purpose as human beings?