Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of salvation.
Because God loves us, God has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ for the salvation of man from death, sin and wrath.
Since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18) and sin by death (Rom. 5:12d ERS),
salvation is basically from death to life and then from sin to
righteousness and then from wrath to peace with God.
Thus there is three aspects of salvation: reconciliation, redemption,
and propitiation.
(1) Reconcilation is salvation from death to life;
(2) redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness; and
(3) propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace.
These three aspects of salvation are accomplished through
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of His work,
redemption is the liberation aspect, and
reconciliation is the representative aspect of His work of
salvation.
The grace of God is the love of God in action to bring man salvation.
"2:4 But God who is rich in mercy,According to these verses, the grace of God is God's love in action.
out of the great love with which he loved us,
2:5 even when we were dead in our failures,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved)" (Eph. 2:4-5 ERS).
In salvation, God does not give us something but gives us Himself, and faith is not just the receiving of something but is the receiving of Him. In salvation, God does not just reveal something about Himself but reveals Himself. Apart from this personal revelation faith is impossible, but when this revelation take place, faith is possible. Since "faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17), faith is the product of God's activity of the revelation of Himself. This revelation takes place in the preaching of the gospel. For the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is not only about salvation (Eph. 1:13), but it is the power of God unto salvation. When the gospel is preached, God exerts His power and men are saved. This act of God's power through the preaching of the gospel takes the form of the personal revelation of God Himself and His love. For He is love (I John 4:8, 16). Those who believe in response to this revelation are through this decision of faith realizing the power of God unto salvation, and in this decision of faith they are saved. To believe is to be saved, and to be saved is to believe.
In this decision of faith, those who believe are saved from death to life. To have faith in God is to believe in Jesus Christ, His Son (John 14:1; 6:29; 8:42; 5:38). And to believe in Jesus Christ is to receive spiritual life. For Jesus is the life (John 5:26; 6:33-35, 38-40, 57-58).
"And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life,To have life is to have passed from death to life. Jesus said,
and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life;
he who has not the Son of God has not life"
(I John 5:11-12).
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my wordThe one who believes Jesus has passed from death to life because he has in the decision of faith also identified himself with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ identified Himself with us in death; He entered into our spiritual death on the cross and died physically for us. His death was our death. In faith, we accept His death as our death and identify ourselves with His death. But since God has raised Jesus from the dead, so also are we made alive with Christ. His resurrection was our resurrection. In faith, we identify ourselves with Him and His resurrection. To receive life in Christ is to be raised from the dead with Him. To pass from death to life is to have died and been raised with Jesus from the dead. We are now spiritually alive in Him. We have entered into fellowship with God and are now reconciled to God. As the gospel is preached, God exerts His power and men are made alive, raised from the dead.
and believes Him who sent me has eternal life;
he does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life" (John 5:24).
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now isWhen the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus for us is proclaimed, God speaks to men, revealing Himself in Jesus Christ. Those who hear and believe in Jesus are made alive in Him, being raised from the dead. They are reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:20). They are saved from death to life.
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live" (John 5:25).
But in the decision of faith men are not only saved from death to life but also from sin to righteousness. To have faith in God is to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. In general, faith is not just belief that certain statements are true but is one's commitment and allegiance to something or someone as one's own personal ultimate criterion of all decisions, intellectual and moral. Saving faith in Jesus Christ is the commitment of oneself to Jesus Christ as one's own personal ultimate criterion ("My Lord and my God," John 20:28). The living person, the resurrected Jesus Christ, not just what He taught, in the decision of faith becomes our ultimate criterion. This is what it means to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. This decision of faith is a turning from false gods (idols) to the living and true God (I Thess. 1:10). As faith in a false god is sin, so faith in the true God is righteousness.
"3 ... 'Abraham believed God,To believe God that He raised Jesus from the dead is to be righteous.
and it [his faith] was reckoned to him as righteousness.'...
5 But to the one who does not work,
but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness."
(Rom. 4:3, 5; NAS).
"23 Now not for his sake only was it written,To acknowledge and confess Jesus as Lord is to believe God that He raised Him from the dead.
that is was reckoned to him [Abraham],
24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned,
as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." (Rom. 4:23-24; NAS).
"9 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,To believe God that He raised from the dead Jesus who in faith we confess as Lord is to be righteous. Thus, this decision of faith is salvation from sin to righteousness.
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you shall be saved;
10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness,
and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation"
(Rom. 10:9-10; NAS).
But in this decision of faith men are not only saved from death to life and from sin to righteousness but also from wrath to peace. Since the wrath of God God's "no" or opposition to sin is caused by sin (trust in a false god) (Rom.1:18), the removal of this sin brings with it also the removal of the wrath of God; no sin, no wrath. Now faith in Christ is also faith in the death of Christ for us; his death is our death. Since Christ's death was the means that God has provided for turning away His wrath his death is a propitiation for our sins, faith in Christ's death turns away God's wrath.
"24 Being set right freely by his graceFaith in Christ's death (his blood) turns away God's wrath, since God has appointed his sacrificial death as the means to turn away His wrath. The result is peace with God; God is no longer opposed to man's sin, since the sin has been removed by Christ's death and resurrection.
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation
through faith in his blood...."
(Rom. 3:24-25; ERS).
"Being therefore set right by faith,Thus, this decision of faith is also salvation from wrath to peace with God.
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Rom. 5:1; ERS)."Much more then, being set right by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him."
(Rom. 5:9; ERS).
The righteousness of God in the Scriptures is not an attribute of God whereby He must render to each what is he has merited nor a quantity of merit which God gives, but is the act or activity of God whereby He puts or sets right that which is wrong. [1] Very often in the Old Testament the righteousness of God is the action of God for the vindication and deliverance of His people; it is the activity in which God saves His people by rescuing them from their oppressors.
"In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge;Thus the righteousness of God is often a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God. In the Old Testament this is clearly shown by the literary device of parallelism which is a characteristic of Hebrew poetry. [2] Parallelism may be defined as that Hebrew literary device in which the thought and idea in one clause is repeated and amplified in a second and following clause. This parallelism of Hebrew poetry clearly shows that Hebrew poets and prophets made the righteousness of God synonymous with divine salvation:
let me never be put to shame;
in thy righteousness deliver me!" (Psa. 31:1)"In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline thy ear to me, and save me!" (Psa. 71:2)"11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
12 And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies,
and destroy all my adversaries,
for I am thy servant." (Psa. 143:11-12)
"The Lord hath made known His salvation:From these verses, it is clear that righteousness of God is a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God.
His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen."
(Psa. 98:2; KJV)"I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off,
and my salvation shall not tarry;
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."
(Isa. 46:13; KJV)"My righteousness is near,
my salvation is gone forth,
and mine arms shall judge the people;
the isles shall wait upon me,
and on mine arm shall they trust."
(Isa. 51:5; KJV)"Thus saith the Lord,
keep ye judgment and do justice [righteousness]:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed." (Isa. 56:1; KJV)
(See also Psa. 71:12, 15; 119:123; Isa. 45:8; 61:10; 62:1)
Very often in the Old Testament the Hebrew noun, tsedeq and tsedaqah, is derived from the Hebrew verb, tsadaq. [3] Although it is usually translated "to be righteous" or "to be justified," the verb has the primary meaning "to be in the right" rather than "to be righteous." (Gen. 38:26; Job 11:2; 34:5) [4] The causative form of the verb (hitsdiq) generally translated "to justify" means not "to make righteous" nor "to declare righteous" but rather "to put in the right" or "to set right." (Ezekiel 16:51-55). Thus it very often has the meaning "to vindicate" or "to give redress to" a person who has suffered wrong. Thus the Hebrew noun (tsedeq) usually translated "righteousness" means an act of vindication or of giving redress. When applied to God, the righteousness of God is God acting to put right the wrong, hence to vindicate and to deliver the oppressed. Thus the Biblical concept of the righteousness of God is the act or activity of God whereby He puts or sets right that which is wrong.
The righteous acts of the Lord, or more literally, the righteousnesses of the Lord, referred to in Judges 5:11; I Sam. 12:7-11; Micah 6:3-5; Psa. 103:6-8; Dan. 9:15-16 means the acts of vindication or deliverance which the Lord has done for His people, giving them victory over their enemies. It is in this sense that God is called "a just [righteous] God and a Savior" (Isa. 45:21) and "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16). A judge or ruler is "righteous" in the Hebrew meaning of the word not because he observes and upholds an abstract standard of Justice, but rather because he comes to the assistance of the injured person and vindicates him. For example, in Psalm 82:2-4:
"2 How long will you judge unjustlyFor the judge to act this way is to show righteousness. A judge in the Old Testament is not one whose business it is to interpret the existing law or to give an impartial verdict in accordance with the established law of the land, but rather he is a deliverer and thus a leader and savior as in the book of Judges (Judges 1:16-17; 3:9-10). His duty and delight is to set things right, to right the wrong; his "judgments" are not words but acts, not legal verdicts but the very active use of God's right arm. The two functions of a judge are given in Psalm 75:7:
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
do justice [judgment] to the afflicted and destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them out of the hand of the wicked."
(Psa. 82:2-4 NAS. See also Psa. 72:4; 76:9; 103:6; 146:7; Isa. 1:17.)
"But God is the judge:Since this a statement concerning God as a judge, it could be taken as a general definition of a Biblical judge. In Psa. 72:1-4 these two functions of Biblical judge are given to the king of Israel.
he puts down one and exalts another." (Psa. 75:7 NAS)
"1 Give the king thy justice [judgment], O God,These same two functions are ascribed to the future ruler of Israel, the Messiah, according to Isaiah 11:3-5.
and thy righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with justice [judgment]!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
and give deiverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor!"
(Psa. 72:1-4 KJV)
"3 And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.His righteousness is shown in His judging the poor, that is, in the vindication of those who are the victims of evil, the poor and meek of the earth, and in the smiting of the wicked who oppressed them.
He shall not judge by what His eyes see,
or decide by what His ears hear;
4 but with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and He shall smite the earth with a rod of His mouth;
and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist
and faithfulness the girdle of His loins."
(Isa. 11:3-5 RSV)
The righteousness of God is not opposed to the love of God nor does it condition it. On the contrary, it is a part of and the proper expression of God's love. It is the activity of God's love to set right the wrong. In the Old Testament this is shown by the parallelism between love and righteousness.
"But the steadfast love of the Lord isGod expresses His love as righteousness in the activity by which He saves His people from their sins. In His wrath, He opposes the sin that would destroy man whom He loves. In His grace, He removes the sin: the grace of God is the love of God in action to bring salvation (Titus 2:11; Eph. 2:8). The grace of God may properly be called the righteousness of God. For in His love, God acts to deliver His people from their sins, setting them right with Himself.
from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him,
and His righteousness to children's children."
(Psa. 103:17; see also Psa. 33:5; 36:56; 40:10; 89:14.)
[1] Alan Richardson,
An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), pp. 79-83, 232-233.
[2] Edward J. Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1950), pp. 281-282.
See also Gleason L. Archer, Jr.,
A Survey of Old Testament Introduction
(Chicago: Moody Press, 1964), pp. 418-420.
[3] C. H. Dodd,
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans
(London and Glasgow: Fontana Books, 1959), p. 38.
[4] C. H. Dodd, The Bible and the Greeks
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1964), p. 46.
The gospel is not only about the righteousness of God manifested in the past on our behalf, but in the gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed in the present. "For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is being revealed from faith unto faith" (Rom. 1:17a ERS). Revelation in this verse is not just a disclosure of truth to be understood by the mind, but it is a working that makes effective and actual that which is revealed. [1] Hence, the revelation of the righteousness of God is that working of God that makes effective and actual that which is revealed, the righteousness of God. In other words, the revelation of the righteousness of God is the actualization of God's salvation. And the righteousness of God is revealed when the salvation of God is made actual and real, that is, when salvation or deliverance takes place. In the preaching of the gospel there is taking place continually an actualization of the righteousness of God. That is, salvation or deliverance is taking place as the gospel is preached. This is the reason that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. (Rom. 1:16. Compare Rom. 1:16-17 with Isa. 56:1 which is no doubt the source of Paul's concepts and words in these verses.)
Faith is the actualization of the salvation of God. Faith is not the means nor the condition of salvation but is the actualization of salvation. Salvation is not a thing which is received by faith but is God's activity of deliverance which produces faith and is accomplished in that faith. This is expressed by Paul in Romans 1:17 in a twofold way: "from faith unto faith".
[1] Burton on Galations in the ICC in contrasting phaneroo and
apokalupto points out that
"for some reason apokalupto has evidently come to be used
especially of a subjective revelation, which either takes place wholly
within the mind of the individual receiving it, or is subjective in the
sense that it is accompanied by actual perception and results
in knowledge on his part: Rom. 8:18; I Cor. 2:10; 14:30; Eph. 3:5."
Ernest deWitt Burton,
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galations,
in
The International Critical Commentary
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1896), p. 433.
He goes on to say that "phaneroo throws emphasis on the fact
that that which is manifested is objectively clear, open to perception.
It is thus suitably used of an open and public announcement, disclosure
or exhibition: I Cor. 4:15; II Cor. 2:14; 4:10 11; Eph. 5:13." Ibid.
The use of the word apokalupto by Paul in Rom. 1:17 thus
seems to place an emphasis on something happening to the individual
receiving the revelation. The word "subjective" is probably
not the right word to use to describe this event because it suggests
that the source of revelation is from within the individual, the
subject. Clearly the revelation that Paul is speaking of is from
without the individual, from God. But it does make a difference,
a change; a response does take place in the person receiving the
revelation. It does bring about that which is revealed, salvation.
The revelation of the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17) is also called justification (Rom. 3:24). As we have seen the righteousness of God is the act or activity of God whereby God sets man right with God Himself. Hence the revelation of the righteousness of God is this act of setting right, and this act of setting right is called justification. Justification is not just a pronouncement about something but is an act that brings about something; it is not just a declaration that a man is righteous before God but is a setting of a man right with God: a bringing him into a right relation with God. Justification is then essentially salvation: to justify is to save (Isa. 45:25; 53:11; see Rom. 6:7 where dikaioo is translated "freed" in RSV). [1] This close relationship between these two concepts is more obvious in the Greek because the words translated "justification" and "righteousness" have the same roots, not two different roots as do the two English words.
There is a difference between justification in the Old Testament and that in the New Testament. In the Old Testament justification is the vindication of the righteous who are suffering wrong (Ex. 23:7). God justifies, that is, vindicates the righteous who are wrongfully oppressed. Justification requires a real righteousness of the people on whose part it is done. In Isa. 51:7 the promise of deliverance is addressed to those "who know righteousness, the people in whose hearts is my law." Similarly, in order to share in the promised vindication, the wicked must forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord (Isa. 55:7). However, in the New Testament justification is not only a vindication of a righteous people who are being wrongfully oppressed but also a deliverance of the people from their own sins. Thus, Paul says that God is He "that justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5). In the New Testament justification is not just a vindication of the righteous who has been wronged (this view is in Jesus' teaching in Matt. 5:6; 6:33; Luke 18:7), but also the salvation of the ungodly who is delivered from his ungodliness and unrighteousness. [2] But justification not only saves the ungodly from their sins, it also brings them into the righteousness of faith. To be set right with God is to have faith in God. "Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was reckoned unto him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3, 9; cf. Rom. 10:9; Phil. 3:9). Justification as God's act of setting man right with Himself brings man into faith, which is to be set right with God. Thus justification is through faith (dia pisteos, Rom. 3:30; Gal. 2:16) and out of or from faith (ek pisteos, Rom. 3:26, 30; Gal. 2:16; 3:8, 24).
But justification as salvation is not only the deliverance from sin to righteousness but also the deliverance from wrath to peace and from death to life. Justification as deliverance from wrath to peace is set forth by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:24-25: Being justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood (ERS; see also Isa. 32:17). Here Paul connects justification with the liberation aspect of salvation, redemption, and the sacrificial aspect of salvation, propitiation. Redemption is the deliverance from sin by the payment of a price called a ransom which is the death of Jesus Christ. And propitiation is the deliverance from the wrath by the sacrificial death of Jesus ("His blood") which turns away or averts the wrath of God through faith in that sacrifice ("through faith in His blood"). Christ's death as a propitiation turns away God's wrath from the one who has faith in that sacrifice. The wrath is turned away because the sin has been taken away ("forgiveness") by the death of Christ as a ransom, by which a man is redeemed or set free, delivered from sin. When sin has been removed, there is no cause for God's wrath. No sin, no wrath. Man is saved from wrath because he is saved from sin. Being justified freely by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1) Much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved through Him from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9).
Justification is also deliverance from death to life. Man is delivered from sin to the righteousness of faith because he is delivered from death to life. As sinners, we were enemies of God, but through the death of God's Son we have been reconciled to God and are now no longer enemies. To be reconciled to God means we have passed from death to life and we are saved in His resurrected life (Rom. 5:10; see II Cor. 5:17-21). We are delivered from death by being "made alive together with Him" in His resurrection (Eph. 2:5). He was "raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). Thus justification is "justification of life" (Rom. 5:18 KJV). To be set right with God is to enter into fellowship with God. And since this fellowship with God is life, then this right relationship to God is life. Justification puts us into right relation to God and hence it is a justification of life. Fellowship with God is established when God reveals Himself to man and man responds to that revelation in faith. Life is a relationship between God and man that results from this revelation and the faith-response to it. Apart from this revelation the response of faith is not possible, and this revelation is the offer of life and the possibility of faith. But life is not actual unless man responds in faith to this revelation of God Himself. Life is received in the act of faith. Since God's act of revelation is first, and man's response in faith is second and depends upon God's revelation, life results in the righteousness of faith and man is righteous because of life. Justification as the revelation of the righteousness of God brings about life and the righteousness of faith.
Justification is the free act of God's grace (Rom. 3:24; Titus 3:7). The source of justification is the love of God. And the love of God in action to bring man salvation is the grace of God (Titus 2:11). Hence justification is the true expression of the grace of God and is the act of the love of God. Because justification is a gift (Rom. 3:24; 5:15-17), justification is free and is not something that can be earned (Rom. 4:4; 11:6). Being a free act of God's grace, justification has nothing to do with the works of the law (Rom. 3:20, 28; 4:6; Gal. 2:16; 3:11; see also Eph. 2:2-9; Phil. 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5).
[1] Richardson, Theology of the New Testament, pp. 232-238.
[2] Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, pp. 39-40.
Sanctification is the act of God by which man is separated from the worship of a false god and is dedicated to the true God. The term is not basically a moral or ethical concept. The idea of sanctification is soteriological before it is a moral concept. The idea of sanctification, which word has the same root as holiness in the Greek and Hebrew, is first of all a religious term and secondarily a moral term. It does not mean basically sinless or morally perfect. To be sanctified is to be dedicated to God. The RSV correctly translates the verb as "consecrated" in I Tim. 2:21. Sanctification denotes first of all the soteriological truth that the Christian belongs to God. Paul uses the term to denote another way of looking at salvation (I Cor. 1:30). Justification emphasizes the right personal relation to God, whereas sanctification emphasizes belonging to the true God rather than to a false god. The view that justification designates the beginning of the Christian life while sanctification designates the development of that life through the internal work of the Spirit is an oversimplification of the New Testament teaching and obscures an important truth. As we will see in the next section, the legalistic interpretation of justification distorts the relationship between it and sanctification. The word "sanctification" occurs only once in Romans (6:22) and is significantly omitted from the steps leading to glorification in Romans 8:30. This is because sanctification is just the other side of justification, and need not also be mentioned when the other is.
In the popular Christian understanding, the issue between Calvinism and Arminianism is the doctrine of the Eternal Security of the believer. Most Christians do not understand that the controversy between Calvinism and Arminianism is concerned with more than this doctrine, as we attempted to show above. Under the criticism of Arminianism many Calvinist have modified their Calvinism and have accepted the Unlimited Atonement (that Christ died for all men) and the Conditional Elect (that God choose who are to be saved on the basis of His foreknowledge of who will believe). This modified Calvinism still accepts the Total Inability (that all men have a sinful nature) and the Irresistable Grace (that God regenerates Elect so that can believe in Christ). This modified Calvinism like the original or "hyper" Calvinism also asserts the Perservance of the Saints; that is, that the Elect (those that God choose in eternity to be saved and for whom Christ died paying the penality of their sins and who are called by God's irresistible grace) shall be preserved unto eternal life in heaven. Both these forms of Calvinism argue that since Christ died to pay the penality of the Elect's sins, whether committed before or after their conversion, they cannot be lost nor can they lose their salvation by any of their sins. This doctrine is often expressed as "Once Saved Always Saved" (OSAS). Arminianism denies this doctrine and holds that the one who has accepted Christ as his Savior and is saved is able (though unlikely) to renounce his faith and be lost. Arminius was of the firm conviction that all men are free moral agents both before and after they were converted. Calvinism replies to this denial of their doctrine that their doctrine is based upon Scripture. Then they argue for it from a series of Scriptures.
"Being confident of this very thing,They argued that God who is the Author of the "good work" (which God, not man, began in His elect) will "perform it" (continuous tense, or "keep on performing") until the "day of Jesus Christ," when the Elect shall receive a sinless (no sinful nature), resurrected bodies.
that He who hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1:6)
"20 Our citzenship is in heaven,This good work is God's good work and not ours. Thus the Calvinist argues that the work of salvation is a monergism, God alone does the work of salvation and it cannot fail. The Calvinist argue that it is only the Elect that God has choosen in eternity that will be kept unto eternal life. Jesus prayed in His great intercessor prayer,
from where also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who shall change our lowly body,
that it may be fashoned like His glorious body
according to the working by which
He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself."
(Phil. 3:20-21)
"Thou hast given Him power over all flesh,The Calvinist argues that these whom the Father has given to Christ are only those that God has chosen in eternity to be saved. Jesus said,
that He [Christ] should give eternal Life
to as many as Thou hast given Him." (John 17:2).
"This is the Will of the Father who sent Me,Calvinism argues that this passage means that only those who have been chosen by God in eternity are saved and thus cannot be lost. Since we had absolutely nothing to do with "getting saved", we have absolutely nothing to do with "keeping saved"; salvation is by the grace of God alone and not the vascillating will of man. Hence, the words of Jesus,
that I shall lose none of all whom He has given Me,
but raise him up in the Last Day." (John 6:39)
"I give them [His sheep] eternal life,And quoting the Apostle Paul,
and they will never perish.
No one can snatch them out of My hand."
(John 10:28).
"The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work,and Jude, as writing
and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom..." (II Tim. 4:18),
"to them who are sanctified by God the FatherCalvinism argues that the Elect of God are preserved and cannot lose their salvation.
and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called" (Jude 1),
Calvinism is correct in holding to the doctrine of the Eternal Security of the Believer, but it is wrong in its arguments for the doctrine. It grounds and bases the doctrine in its deterministic theology of Unconditional Election and Irresistable Grace, and its legalistic interpretation of Christ's death as Limited penal substitutionary Atonement. The true basis of the doctrine of the Eternal Security of the Believer is the love of God for all men and the gift of salvation from death to life through Christ's death and resurrection for them. Jesus said,
"14 I am the good shepherd;Christ laid down his life for the sheep so that they could be made alive with Him in His resurrection. The resurrected Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. And they become His sheep by receiving the gift of eternal life.
and I know My own, and My own know me,
15 even as the Father knows Me and I known the Father;
and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:14-15; NAS)
"27 My sheep hear My voice,His sheep know Him because He gives to them this knowledge. This personal knowledge of the true God is eternal life. Jesus said as He prayed,
and I know them, and they follow Me;
28 and I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish;
and no one shall snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:27-28).
"This is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true God,Those who receive Christ receive the gift of eternal life and this is the personal knowledge of the true God. Thus they become His sheep and they shall never perish. Who are Christ's sheep? Only those who follow Christ, the Good and Great Shepherd. It is their choice; He calls them to follow Him, but they must choose to accept that call. If they accept that call, they become His sheep and Jesus Christ becomes their Shepherd; that is, their Lord and their God. In other words, He becomes their ultimate criterion of their choices. He knows them and they know Him. That is, they are in a personal relation to Jesus Christ. As their Shepherd and Lord, He takes care of them as His sheep and no one shall snatch them out of His hand. He gives to them eternal life; and having received the gift of eternal life, they shall never perish.
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3; NAS).
Both Calvinism and Arminianism cannot provide any basis for the assurance of salvation to the individual believer; that is, the knowledge that one as an individual believer in Christ is really saved and will go to heaven when he dies. Calvinism teaches the Perseverance of the Saints, the Elect, but does not provide any knowledge of the number of the Saints and who are among the Elect. Augustine believed that their number was equal to the number of fallen angels, but that was mere speculation; it has not been revealed. This eternal choice of God of who will be saved is a "hidden decree", that is, God has not revealed who are written in Lamb's book of life (Rev. 20:12, 15). Accordingly, any current believer in Christ does not know that he is among the Elect; he cannot be sure that since he now believes in Christ that he is among the Elect and that he will not deny Christ before he dies. Thus Calvinism cannot provide the assurance of salvation. Neither can Arminianism provide this assurance. Since all believers are free moral agents before and after conversion, they might decide to sin and lose their salvation. In fact, many Arminians believe that every time they sin, they need to be saved again. And if they sin unknowingly, they might not repent of their sin and not be saved again. And if they die before they can be saved again, then they will be eternally lost. Thus according to Arminianism there is no assurance of salvation.
Biblical theology does provide this basis for the assurance of salvation. In fact, the Bible teaches this assurance of salvation.
Romans 10:17 - "Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord is saved."I John 5:10-13 -
"10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself;
the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar,
because he has not believed in the witness
that God has borne concerning His Son.
11 And the witness is this,
that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 These things I have written to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God,
in order that you may know that you have eternal life."John 5:24 - Jesus said,
"Truly, Truly, I say to you,
he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life;
he does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life."
Our salvation does not depend on an hidden decree of God nor on the human will not to sin. Salvation is the gift of God which is received by faith.
"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith;The Apostle John also says about the Son of God,
and that not from yourselves, it [salvation] is the gift of God;
9 not of works, lest any man should boast."
(Eph. 2:8-9; ERS)
"16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,
that all of those believing in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life.
17 For God sent the Son into the world,
not to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through Him."
(John 3:16-17; ERS)
"11 He came to his own,They who receive the Son of God, are born of God; and being born of God, are the children of God. These have eternal life, and have passed from death to life (John 5:24). They are His sheep and they shall never perish (John 10:28). If they go astray, the Shepherd goes after them and brings them back again to Himself (Luke 15:4-6). They do not lose their salvation each time they sin and have to be saved again. The wandering sheep is still His sheep. If they confess their sin, they are forgiven and cleanse from sin. The Apostle John writes,
and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as receive Him,
to them he gave the power to become children of God,
even to those that believe on His name,
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God."
(John 1:11-13; ERS)
"5 And this is the messageThis is the present tense of salvation. There are three tenses of salvation. In the past tense of salvation, Christ has saved us from sin (trust in a false god), and in the present tense of salvation He is saving from sins (acts not of love), and in the future tense of salvation He will save us from the opportunity to sin; the temptation (the world, the flesh, and the devil) to sin will be removed. These three tenses of salvation are by the grace of God (God's love in action) and we participate in this salvation by faith (trust) in God. "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." (Col. 2:6). It is not by our meritorious works; it is not earned or kept by our righteousness nor lost by our sins. It is a gift that is received by faith and in which we walk by faith. This is the Biblical basis of the assurance of salvation. Our assurance of salvation rests in God who so loved the world that He gave His only Son for the whole world, and not just for some, that all those who receive His gift and believe and trust Him, have eternal life, and shall never perish.
which we have heard from Him and announce to you,
that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him
and yet walk in the darkness,
we lie and do not the truth;
7 but if we walk in the light
as He Himself is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say have no sin,
we are deceiving ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar,
and His word is not in us."
(I John 1:5-10; NAS)
"1 My little children,
I am writing these things to you that you may not sin.
And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous.
2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins;
and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."
(I John 2:1-2; NAS)
