Let's open the book.
"You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood... But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people." (1 Peter 2:5, 9)

For the first half of my life I lived in Chicago. My best friend was Greek—Tony. I spent a lot of time at his house, and his mom, Olga, started grilling me. She was Greek Orthodox. I was the evangelical pastor. She wanted to know where we differed.

One day I threw out a casual line: "If you ever want to do a Bible study with your friends and family, I'll teach it." I said it and immediately forgot it.

A couple of months later I get a phone call and I hear the voice of a lady. She says "HI Bill this is Olga." That's Tony's mom. She says, "Is nine enough?"

I say, "Nine what?"

"I have nine people for a Bible study. When can we start?" she says.

And for the next year and a half I met with anywhere from 9 to 15 Greek orthodox people, mostly older, going from one home to another, to study the Bible. We studied from the Greek New Testament and they laughed out loud my horrible pronunciation every single week.

I learned their world. They adopted me.

The second best thing about the Bible study was... the food. I do not have words to describe the spread that got laid out from week to week. When you are a single man living alone, and you have Greek ladies competing to feed you, you have landed in a very good place.

But the first best thing about that Bible study is that my newfound Greek Orthodox friends got saved. All of them.

Last week I said, if you're going to be Catholic, be a saved Catholic. And today, I will say, if you're going to be Greek Orthodox, be a saved Greek Orthodox too.

This summer we're doing something direct: we're comparing what we believe as Evangelicals with what other faith systems teach. Not to attack anyone. Not to win arguments. Just to get clear on the differences so we actually know what we're talking about.

We are doing this with nothing but love and respect. We are not interested in beating anybody up or in shoving our beliefs down anybody's throats. We want to be respectful.

So the title of our summer series is: What's the Difference?

We have 12 talks planned.

 

Today is part 4, and our topic is: The Orthodox Church

 

If you're not familiar with the Orthodox Church, this includes a whole list of churches, mainly ethnic. So there's the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Egyptian Orthodox Church (called Coptic), and many others.

Each has their own leader, which they call a Patriarch. And they are fairly independent, though they are loosely united.

I know that is a mouthful, but let me simplify this beautiful part of the Christian family.

Let me cut straight to it.

SACRAMENTAL: Both are sacramental. The rituals aren't just symbols—they're the actual pipelines that deliver saving grace.

HIERARCHY: Both require a priestly hierarchy. You don't go straight to God for forgiveness or prayer. You go through the priest.

BEAUTY: Both build ornate cathedrals filled with art that's impressive, inspiring, and beautiful.

SAINTS & MARY: Both pray to saints and venerate Mary, adding extra layers of mediators between you and God.

INFANT BAPTISM: Both baptize infants. We'll come back to that in a minute.

Bottom line: On the core structures that define their theology, Orthodox and Catholic are far more alike than they are different.

They actually had a big fight over this.

These church groups were growing and expanding. And they were very local and very independent. Every major part of the world had its own leadership.

Somewhere in the tenth century A.D., the bishop of Rome asserted that he was the head of all the other bishops and all the other patriarchs, because, well, Peter. He declared himself Pope.

Most of the churches in Western Europe were good with that, and they stuck with the new Pope in Rome.

But most of the patriarchs in the eastern churches said no way, we'll just stay independent.

So on July 16, AD 1054, the Pope said, "Patriarch of Constantinople, I excommunicate you!"

And the patriarch said, "Pope, I excommunicate you!"

And ever since, there have been the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Catholic Church (a.k.a., Eastern Orthodox or just Orthodox).

And let me pause here to say that it is really sad when Christians fight Christians.
Yes, it happens.

And you will also be glad to know that the two sides have apologized, they've made up, they are friends, and they respect one another's differences to this day.

Things I Admire
I came to admire a lot of things about orthodoxy over the years.

The Claim to Antiquity
I went to a fast food place in Chicago with some friends and we were ordering hot-dog and Italian beef. When it was my turn to order, I asked for my hotdog. And the young man who is serving us recognized my voice. I had never met him before, but his eyes grew wide, and he said, "Are you Bill Giovannetti?"

I said yes, and he said, "I listen to your messages. They really help me."

I thanked him and asked him where he went to church. He told me he was Greek Orthodox. And then he added this: "We are the original church, you know. That's a fact. We are the the oldest of all the churches."

I will come back to this, but that claim to antiquity is beautiful and it carries a lot of weight.

The Liturgical Genius
If you've ever been in an Orthodox church, you can literally feel the worship—the incense, the icons, the chanting, the corporate rhythm of worship. There's something beautifully formal and profoundly transcendent about it.

I've been to Orthodox services, weddings, and funerals. The sense of continuity is awesome, reaching back many centuries into history.

The Theological Boldness
If there is any Christian group that has stood against fads and trends it is the Orthodox Church.

Orthodox theology stands strong on the teachings of the Trinity, which is taught in Scripture and affirmed by the Nicene Creed.

They stand strong on the biblical teachings on the person and work of Christ, as affirmed by the Chalcedonian Creed.

Orthodoxy is seen as a bulwark against modern theological erosion.

And that takes guts in an age of incremental compromise. That's something I respect.

I also respect that we have very real differences. Here are some of the most important ones, from my perspective:

THEOSIS - What is Salvation?
The Eastern Orthodox understanding of salvation is called "theosis." The word means "deification."

Theosis describes salvation not as a verdict you receive that says God accepts you.

Instead, salvation is your union with God you enter at baptism and slowly deepens all life long.

In the words of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,
"Orthodoxy believes that each Christian is involved in a movement toward God which is known as theosis or deification. Theosis describes the spiritual pilgrimage in which each person becomes ever more perfect, ever more holy, ever more united with God." (Greek Orthodox Church of America Website)

You being accepted by God and you being transformed by God are folded into one process. You're not fully accepted by God until you're fully transformed.

Once you say this, you end up asking a different question. You don't ask, "Am I saved?" — which expects a yes or no.

Instead you have to ask, "How far along am I?", which has no resting point built into it.

A person's standing before God becomes permanently uncertain. You're never sure of heaven, or even of God's favor.

This was the case with every single one of my friends in my Greek Bible Study. None of them had assurance of heaven.

You can never be sure you're saved because your salvation is a never ending process.

The Evangelical Reply
For evangelicals we see a very different story.

The prodigal son came home and the Father embraced him. "My son was dead and is now alive." Done.

The thief on the cross was condemned, but instantly forgiven. "Today you will be with me in paradise." Done.

Saul was an enemy of Christians, but then met Jesus and believed in him... and Saul the enemy became St. Paul the Champion of Grace... who wrote:
"In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." (Ephesians 1:13)

You heard a message called the gospel. You believed the message. You were sealed once for all. Done. Finished. Complete.

It is a verdict decreed in heaven, not a change in your behavior on earth.

 

Yes, there is a process where God heals your heart and makes you whole... but that process comes AFTER salvation. It cannot be any other way. (Hebrews 10:14)

If it were any other way, nobody could ever say this:
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life..." (1 John 5:13)

God brought you here today so I could tell you that you can know that you are going to heaven.