Soteriology

Soteriology is the doctrine of salvation and has served as a path to countless discussions, disputes, and denominations over the centuries. Even prior to the days of Christ there were civilizations around the world that had culturally apposite beliefs about the purpose of existence, what it means to be dead or alive, and what happens after someone dies. 

As Christians we believe in the Biblical teachings of salvation, the most closely related of which will be founded upon Judaist beliefs from what we call the Old Testament Scriptures and while their interpretation and applications through customs and tradition do have immense exegetical value, we must sort through the abundance of rotted hay to find the fresh needle.

The short, pointed, and biblical answer is that salvation is given as a gift to us through the faith that we have in Jesus as our Savior by the grace that God has afforded us. This “grace” being manifested as the mere opportunity to even have something to believe in; the faith we assume therefore being the cause and salvation being the effect (Eph 2:8-9). In other words, we have access to God’s saving grace, which is like a room behind a locked door, because we possess the key, which is our faith in Jesus as Savior. 

In the story of Abraham we have an irrefutable example of this teaching in no uncertain terms found in Gen 15:6, “And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness” (KJV). The Hebrew word used here for “believe” is “אָמַן (Aman),” which means to foster, trust, believe, render (or be) faithful, etc. The Greek equivalent found in the Septuagint (LXX) is “ἐπίστευσεν (Episteusen),” the root of which is “πίστις (Pistis),” which is faith/belief; the two words often being used interchangeably throughout the New Testament as well.

Before Abraham we have the simple lack of faith that Adam and Eve had in God’s provision and teaching about the forbidden tree and death. It was by their distrust that they chose to be disobedient and to seek out a truth they believed God must have been hiding from them. This sin of distrust lies at the root of every tree that lacks the water of life, manifesting as a lack or entire absence of faith.

Salvation could therefore be said to manifest as an absence of distrust. Just as Abraham hesitated not to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, such faith in God’s goodness and faithfulness to provide and protect -to save- is counted to us as the righteousness that only Jesus has ever been able to earn. Whereas our sin should otherwise cause us to receive the punishment of everlasting separation from God, the work that Jesus did while He was with us has opened the door to imputation of that righteousness should we accept and declare Him as Savior. In receiving that imputed righteousness, we become exempt from God’s wrath and instead enjoy the benefits of life, peace, and joy forever in the presence of God. In faith (confessing, believing, growing, and persevering/abiding in Christ) we exhibit this imputation.

Having faith in Jesus will ultimately cause in us a desire to grow in our faith and open ourselves to become more deeply sanctified, showing us to be faithful followers, disciples, and servants. This sanctifying work done in us by the Holy Spirit is an ongoing process. Not everything will happen instantly. There will be Holy Spirit-driven convictions of wrongdoing/sinful behavior that will be apparent from the onset and we will repent of those things immediately, other things may require time and effort to overcome. Some behaviors may not even be made apparent at first but as we mature in our faith we will learn more and become more aware of improvements to our ethics (thoughts, feelings, words, and behavior) that we need to make. In other words, repentance and sanctification will be a lifelong work; as we grow we will see more that we need to repent of. One analogy I’ve heard is that we first remove the boulders of sin from our lives, as they are the biggest and most obvious things we see plainly before us. Next we move on to the big rocks and boulders. Then the smaller rocks, then pebbles, then the grains of sand. Slowly we clean our house of sin, understanding that we will be made holy throughout our lives, having never achieved sinless perfection while in this corrupted flesh.

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith” Habb 2:4 (NASB95). Faith means more than saying we believe or being baptized. It isn’t reduced to a Sunday morning ritual. It’s not something we do to conform to a social group or gain the approval of the world. Having faith means making a commitment to a new way of life. Before Christians were called Christians, they were referred to as “followers of the Way.” This was a new way of thinking, feeling, saying, and doing (cf. above in the mention of ethics). Faith involves repentance of specific sins as well as repentance of a sinful lifestyle, moving into a holy lifestyle. Faith creates in us an abiding spirit that insists we turn from our sins and express a change of heart and mind in our attitudes toward the sins of the world whether we commit them ourselves or see them in others. This abiding spirit will cause us to hate the sin more and more while we love God more and more. It will instill in us a recognition of the fact that we must love God more than our sins, therefore rejecting the sin and embracing the goodness of God’s love, patience, mercy, and kindness.

This leads to the discussion of what role good works play in the state of our salvation. Are we saved by our works and deeds or are we save by faith alone? When we reference the Scripture cited above (Eph 2: 8-9), we see very plainly that we are absolutely saved by the grace of God through faith. We also have the idea of justification. This idea is spoken of in Romans 3:28 when Paul writes, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” 

The conflict seems to have always centered around one very simple and unfortunate misunderstanding: cause & effect. Many people have misunderstood salvation to be the result of their own good works: In other words our works will be the cause of our salvation, which is therefore the result (or, effect) of our good works. We may back up a little from the last verse mentioned and begin in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” We may also look to Isaiah 64:6 which describes even our righteousness as filthy rags. These verses and so many others clearly teach that the very best we have to offer is not good enough to earn our own salvation through works and that’s because of the simple fact that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) and we have already committed one sin or another. Therefore what we actually deserve is to die the second death -that is what we’ve earned. However, by virtue of being saved, we will be “born again” (John 3:3) but this time of the spirit and therefore think, feel, speak, and behave according to new ways as the former person we once were is now vanquished and we are made anew in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). So, in simple terms, salvation is not the effect, it is the cause; works are not the cause, they are the effect. Good works don’t lead to salvation, salvation leads to good works. They will be the manifestation in the world of the fruits of the spirit that each of us has in being a follower of the Way.

In what way then are we required to be obedient to God? How do the 10 commandments play a role in our obedience and why do we appear to have a requirement to obey some of those commandments and not others? In total, there are 613 commandments that came out of the Old Testament. The 10 commandments themselves are really only 10 that God introduced immediately after the Israelites agreed to the Mosaic Covenant as law. Within this law (called “Torah”), we have civil, ceremonial, and moral aspects. The civil relates specifically to the nation of Israel, the ceremonial relates to the covenantal nature of the relationship with God to which the Israelites agreed. The moral aspect, however, is a transcendent aspect of the Law of God that is universal throughout human history from Adam to the present day. It is not specific to the Mosaic Covenant. The same expectations that were placed on Adam’s conduct under the Adamic Covenant applied to those under the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic, Solomonic, etc. until this last age comes to a close under the new and final covenant. Morality, like works, does not dictate the state of our salvation, however. The state of our salvation will manifest in the imitation of the One we recognize as the measure of morality and righteousness. 

We will behave according to what we believe. Everyone has heard the saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” I once heard someone say a long time ago that if you want to know what’s important to you, look at your checkbook and see what you’ve been spending your money on for the last 2 years. In Matt 6:21, Jesus says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (ESV).

Behavior will be consistent with what a Christian says. To say one thing and to do another is to be inconsistent, dishonest, and/or hypocritical. There is no shortage of teachings throughout the Bible, and in the New Testament in particular, that speak against this. Therefore, a Christian will not routinely exhibit these qualities but instead will follow through in doing what they say they will or will not do. Although it is well established that actions do speak louder than words, that is not supposed to diminish the impact that words themselves have. Throughout Scripture we see that God has a lot to say about what people say:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit (Pro 18:21 NASB95)

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Eph 4:29 ESV)

But I say unto you, that every idle word than men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Matt 12:36 KJV)

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer (PSA 19:14 ESV)

The list and examples go on for a long time. While our present civilization likes to minimize the value of words, God esteems them. The point is, words are important; they mean things. And Jesus even said “O generations of vipers, how can you speak good things, when ye are evil? For of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt 12:34 GNV). While the context is in speaking to those rebuking Jesus, the application is universal.

With Christian behavior being consistent with vocal intent, as we’ve now established as important, the source is from within the heart. As important as actions are to the world as well as to God, as impactful as God says words are, the origin of all these things is within us. This treasure Jesus speaks of comes from within our hearts, and it finds its simple understanding it the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13 (ASV):

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body [a]to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; 6 rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; 7 [b]beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, [c]darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. 13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the [d]greatest of these is love.

If there’s a secret to be found to this key of faith to God’s grace in salvation, it’s love. If one is a follower of the Way, he has agreed in his heart to love as God loved; to be willing to love the way Jesus demonstrated love to be (John 13:34; 15:12, Eph 5:2). He will do for and to others according to every way that God has spoken through His Word to do unto others. He will do these things because of the love he fosters for God as well as for his neighbor, his brother, even his enemy and not because he believes that doing so will earn him salvation, sparing him from the condemnation he seeks to avoid. He will do these things because it has become the biggest part of who he is: how he thinks, feels, speaks, and behaves because the God who chose to love him first, did so.