SOTERIOLOGY --- THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION Soteriology is the branch of Christian systematic theology that focuses on salvation from sin. Soteriology seeks to answer the following questions: What does it mean to be saved? What is a person saved from? How does a person get saved? Are there many ways of salvation, or is there only one way? What are the benefits that come with salvation? What happens to those people who are not saved? The theme verse for Soteriology is Ephesians 2:8, 9 when says that people are saved by grace through faith, and not by their own works. Christianity is the only belief system in the world that offers salvation entirely by grace through faith. All other belief systems, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and false Christian cults call for people to somehow earn their salvation through their own good works. Christianity is based on theosoterism, which means God does all the necessary work in saving a person. Other belief systems are based on autosoterism, which means people are required to somehow save themselves from their adverse spiritual circumstance by meriting Gods favor. Christianity is not a religion but a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Other belief systems are religions that place a heavy burden of dos, donts and special rituals on a person that prove to be unprofitable in earning salvation. All the great spiritual leaders that founded the worlds religions are dead. Muhammad is dead, Confucius is dead, Moses is dead, and Joseph Smith and Charles T. Russell are also dead. However, Jesus Christ is the spiritual leader of true Christianity and He is still alive, as He was bodily resurrected from the dead to be our Savior, Mediator, High Priest and King. Salvation means to be saved from your sins by resting on Gods Son Jesus Christ as the substitutionary atonement for your sins, which in turns opens the way for God to declare you righteous, no longer guilty of sins. Instead of imputing sin on you after salvation, God imputes the perfect righteousness of His Son on your account, so that God now sees you as being without sin. Jesus substitutionary atonement does not cover just some of your sins, nor does it cover most of your sins, instead, it covers all of your sins (1 John 1:7). A person is at Peace with God once their sins have been covered by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1), but they were at enmity with God prior to being saved. There is no condemnation on those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). The reason why we, as sinners cannot save ourselves is because the Bible teaches that, as a result of the fall of man (Genesis 3:1-7) every part of human nature, including our mind, will, emotions and flesh, have been corrupted by sin. In other words, sin affects all areas of our being, including who we are and what we do. It penetrates to the very core of our being so that everything is tainted by sin and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags before a holy God (Isaiah 64:6). The Bible teaches that we sin because we are sinners by nature, not merely by choice alone. Gods law demands perfection, but we cannot produce perfect deeds, nor can we transform our nature from imperfect to perfect (Proverbs 20:9). God gave the Law to humanity so that we may know His will, but the Law also serves to reveals our sinfulness, and the only thing the Law can do is condemn us under Gods wrath because we are unable to keep the Law perfectly (Romans 7:7-14). Every time we break one of Gods laws, we automatically break all of Gods laws (James 2:10). Consequently, any salvation plan that is based on human works is futile. An autosocteric gospel does not and cannot save. God saw humanity terrible situation back in eternity past, before the foundation of the world. God arranged for the ransom sacrifice of His Son before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). God began disclosing His salvation plan to humanity at the moment our original parents, Adam and Eve, fell into sin (Genesis 3:15). Eventually, God sent His Son into the world to be our Savior; His name was Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:21). Christ suffered a terrible, painful death on the Cross of Calvary for our sins. That was not an ordinary death; it was Almighty God pouring out His fierce, just and holy anger upon His own Son for the sins of humanity. Gods just and holy hatred for sins was bruising Jesus on the Cross. Isaiah 53:10 says that it pleased the Lord God to bruise His own Son as payment for our sins. Therefore Jesus paid for everything and we are required to do nothing to get saved except to believe on the Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 04:52:29 +0000