Was Salvation Completed on the Cross or in the Resurrection?
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
May the blessing of the Father who calls us and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and transforms us be with us all, that we may hear His word and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Amen.
Many people today wonder: Did salvation happen on the Cross or by the Resurrection?
The Orthodox answer is simple and powerful:
Salvation was accomplished fully and eternally on the Cross.
The Cross: The Fulfillment of Redemption
As Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory taught:
“Our salvation was completed on the Cross.”
The proof of this is found in the words of Christ to the thief on His right:
“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Paradise was opened that same day—not after the Resurrection.
Why? Because the price of sin was paid by Christ’s blood on the Cross.
As St. Paul boldly proclaims:
“We have redemption through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20)
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7)“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)
The Cross is the altar. Christ is the Lamb. His Blood is our salvation.
What About the Resurrection?
The Resurrection is not the cause of salvation—it is the victory cry.
Christ rose to prove His divinity and to show that death has no hold over Him:
“I lay down My life that I may take it again… I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17–18)
He rose to confirm that the redemption was real, and to raise our nature with Him.
As the Church sings:
““Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”
Patristic Witnesses
St. Athanasius the Great affirms:
“By His death, salvation has come to all; and by His rising again, death is destroyed.”
—On the Incarnation, §10, §20
St. Cyril of Alexandria writes:
“By the Cross, He abolished sin and death; by the Resurrection, He raised our nature and glorified it.”
—Commentary on John, Book 11
St. Gregory Nazianzen teaches:
“We were put to death with Him, that we might be cleansed; we rose again with Him, because we were put to death with Him.”
—Oration 45.1, On the Holy Pasch (NPNF 2:80)
In Summary:
- The Cross is where salvation was accomplished.
- The Resurrection is where salvation was revealed and death defeated.
- The Ascension is where our glorification began.
Let us preach not just Christ crucified, but Christ crucified and victorious, so that the world may know that salvation is by the Cross, confirmed by the Resurrection, and completed in the glory of His Ascension.
May the Lord bless us, transform our hearts and minds, that our homes may stand on the Rock, our hands serve in the harvest, and our hearts long for Heaven. Amen.