Tuesday, 29 September 2020 Soteriology - The doctrine of Salvation
Subject
• Love God more deeply for what He did for you. • Tell others more confidently what God can do for them. • Have an assurance of your salvation and an appreciation for God’s grace.
• The problem: the need for salvation • The provision: the solution of salvation • The promise: the security of salvation
Soteriology discusses how Christ’s death secures the salvation of those who believe. It helps us to understand the doctrines of redemption, justification, sanctification, propitiation, and the substitutionary atonement. Some common questions in studying Soteriology are:
Understanding Biblical Soteriology will help us to know why salvation is by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
No other religion bases salvation on faith alone. Soteriology helps us to see why.
A clear understanding of our salvation will provide a "peace that passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7) because we come to know that He who can never fail is the means by which we were saved and the means by which we remain secure in our salvation.
If we were responsible to save ourselves and keep ourselves saved, we would fail. Thank God that is not the case!
KEY VERSE:
Titus 3:5-8 is a tremendous summary of Soteriology, "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
RT KENDALL
The most important subject of all It deals with the REASON God sent his son into the world It deals with our own souls and where we will spend eternity It equips us in how and what we share in evangelism.
1 Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Soteriology is the doctrine of salvation. Soteriology comes from two greek words:
Soter: Saviour Logos: Word
Soteriology deals with two big questions: Does man need to be redeemed? And if so, how?
It’s become a bit unfashionable to use the word saved. It sounds a bit alien. Some talk about being converted, or a committed Christian.
But the Bible unashamedly uses the word.
Mathew 1:21: 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, [] because he will save his people from their sins John 5:34 Acts 4:12 Romans 10:9 9 If you declare(A)with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"(B)and believe(C)in your heart that God raised him from the dead,(D)you will be saved.
The terms salvation and redemption can be used interchangeably. But they each have their own meaning.
Salvation: Saved from the wrath of God. Romans 5:9 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
We have been saved from the penalty and power of sin.
Redemption: Being brought back. This refers to Christs’ blood buying us back from the lost condition into which we were born.
To understand the need for salvation, we need to look at the doctrine of MAN: Man before the fall, as he was created by God.
Man after the fall.
When we talk about the fall we’re talking about the moment of Adam’s sin in the garden of Eden.
The doctrine of salvation first appears outside of the Bible in the writings of ST Augustine.
Augustines’ soteriology can be summarised like this
Posse Peccare - Able to Sin - Created sinless but with possibility of sinning Non Posse Non Peccare - Not able not to sin - After sin emerges, man is unable to do other than sin. We’re all born into that condition. Posse Non Peccare - Able not to sin - After salvation - Man is able by the power of the holy spirit not to sin. Non Posse Pecarre - Not able to sin - Glorification - In heaven man will not be able to sin.
MAN BEFORE THE FALL
Gen 1: 26-2726 Then God said, “Let us make man[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
2 Tuesday, 29 September 2020
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Man was created in the image of God.
What is the image of God (Or imago dei):
A spiritual being - (Conscience) - Made with more than physical senses. - Also there was a yearning within man to worship the Creator and converse with God.
With Free Will - Genesis 2: 16-17 - 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[a] of it you shall surely die.” - Man had the power to choose - He was able to sin
Immortal - God alone is immortal (1 Timothy 6:16) 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. - God gives immortality to man when he was created.
Intelligent (Genesis 1:28) 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Superior to all other created beings - God allowed man to name the creatures
Work and Responsibility (Genesis 2:15) 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. - Essential to the unfilled man was the capacity to work - Work was not tiring or hard.
Man was created innocent and sinless (Genesis 2:25) 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. - Without guilt or shame - Created without any sin at all
MAN AFTER THE FALL: THE EMERGENCE OF SIN
Genesis 3:1-7 - The devil came to Eve in the form of a serpent - The devil twisted God’s word to man - Eve gave in to temptation - Adam followed her
What was the consequence of their sin?
Death (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - The moment they ate of the fruit, death set in - They continued to live on for a good while, but it was only a matter of time before these once immortal beings would die
3 Tuesday, 29 September 2020
- Spiritual death entered in (Ephesians 2:1-3) 2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b]
Shame (Genesis 3:8) - Before sin they were not conscious of their nakedness - But immediately afterwards they felt a need to cover up their bodies
Refusal to accept responsibility - self-righteousness - Adam blamed Eve. - Eve blamed the serpent
Fear (Genesis 3:10) 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Punishment for the Woman Gen 3:16 “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to[a] your husband,
but he shall rule over you.” Punishment for the man Gen 3:19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken; for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
What is Sin?
Sin is a lie - It started in the Garden with Satan asking, did God really say? Effectively calling God a liar. Sin is a delusion - Like a mirage it looks appealing only to lead to utter nothingness. Eventually death. Sin is darkness - Sin loves the darkness, and keeping people in the darkness. Ultimately it denies true light - Jesus. Sin is separation - Sin separates man from God and man from man. (Isaiah 59:2) Not only here and now, but dying in sin, results in eternal separation from God. Perversion Servitude to satan emptiness a mistake Makes the soul guilty before God Produces a state of wickedness Ruins life and hope Results in distortion Defiles the soul Corrupts the soul Ensnares the soul
4 Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Further Consequences of the Fall
The whole human race fell as a result of our first parents (Romans 5:12-13) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[a] because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
All born after Adam and eve inherited the condition of Adam and Eve as they were AFTER the fall, not BEFORE. - Man has never been born as Adam was in his unfilled state - Man inherits what Adam inherited as a result of the fall: death, shame, self righteousness and fear
• Sentenced to physical & spiritual death (Genesis 3:19, John 3:18, Romans 6:23) • Separated from God (Ephesians 2:12) • Dominated & controlled by sin (Ephesians 2:1-3, Romans 6:6) • Spiritual blindness (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) • Without understanding (Romans 3:11) • Enemies of Christ (Matthew 12:30) • Objects of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3) • Considered children of the Devil (John 8:44)
We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are born sinners. (Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3) The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
The image of God is defaced, or marred - It’s not been obliterated just very damaged. There is a trace of the image of God in man, but not as it was before the fall. - Man still has a conscience, but there is a God-shaped blank or hole in every man! - But our conscience, is unable to save.
5 Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Free will as Adam once had is forfeited. - Man is in subjection to sin: he is hardly free (Ephesians 2:1) And you were dead in the trespasses and sins - Man is not moral, he is full of cursing and bitterness (Romans 3:14) “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” - Man is not the agent in his salvation, the Holy Spirit is the agent (the one who initiates) - Genesis 3:24 is the nail in the coffin! 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. - In short, man was ‘not able not to sin’
SALVATION
The first promise of salvation, the glimmer of hope is found in Genesis 3:15.I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and her offspring; he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
- This word was addressed to the serpent - It was the promise that Jesus would die on a cross. - God could have chosen to let man perish or utterly destroy the devil then and there. - Instead he chose to send a redeemer and to deal with evil in stages.
The first hint of God’s love and the way he would save us was when he made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them (Genesis 3:21) 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. - The garments of skin meant The sacrifice of a substitute. - - The shedding of blood - The clothing points to the covering of righteousness that would be needed.
Throughout the Bible in the Old Testament we see hints of redemption. - Abel (Hebrews 11:4) - Abraham - The gospel was preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:8) 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify[a] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” - Abraham saw Jesus’ day and was glad - The law (Romans 5:20) 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, - The sacrificial system was explicitly introduced. (Hebrews 10:1) 10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. - This pointed to it’s fulfilment in Christ (Galatians 3:24) 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
6 Tuesday, 29 September 2020
The coming of the Redeemer (Galatians 4:4) 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
JEsus was born of a Virgin - He was man as though he were not God (Hebrews 5:8) - He was God as though he were not man (John 1:1)
Jesus promised to fulfil the law (Matthew 5:17) 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. - This meant he would be the first person who never sinned. - For no one had kept the law (Acts 15:10, - Jesus never sinned ( 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15)
Three things were needed to SAVE mankind
Sacrifice - The shedding of blood Substitution - To take man’s place Satisfaction - TO please God
Jesus fulfilled all the above!
The Need for Faith (Romans 3:22)
Romans 1:17 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,[a] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”[b]
There might be some that wished that verse said the righteousness of God is revealed by faith. Because then the work of Jesus would have guaranteed salvation for all! - Yes, Jesus Christ did die for all (Hebrews 2:9)9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. - But we know that not all are saved!?
This is because the righteousness (justice of God) is revealed ‘from faith to faith’ This means that what Jesus Christ did was not sufficient to save in and by itself - by God’s own decree Our faith must be joined to what he did, or we will not be saved.
But the righteousness of God comes only ‘to all who believe’ (John 3:16) - If we believe we are saved (Jon 5:24) - If we do not believe we are condemned (John 3:36)
Therefore there is a need for Preaching (1 Corithians 1:21) 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach[a] to save those who believe. - No one believes without being witnessed to (Romans 10:14) 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?[a] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? - We as Christians are commanded to witness to all (Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 5:20) - If our view of salvation does not lead us to witness to the lost, we are disobedient to Christ
The need for faith to be imparted (Ephesians 2:8) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
- Man cannot in and of himself believe. - He is born dead (Ephesians 2:1-5)
7 Tuesday, 29 September 2020 - Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him (John 6:44)
What is required? Regeneration (Being born again) - We were powerless and passive in our natural birth - We are likewise powerless and passive in our spiritual birth (John 1:13) - Regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit. It’s what God must begin (Philippians 1:6) - It is effectual by the Spirit alone (1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:13) - Simply, faith is the gift of God!
Who believes? - Those given to Jesus by the Father (John 6:37) - Those who were appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48) - Those who were predestined and called (Romans 8:30)
What happens to believers? - They are given an imputed righteousness (Romans 4:1-12) - They are kept - They are given power not to sin (Romans 6:1-22) ABLE NOT TO SIN
The need for glorification - Romans 8:30 - God might have decreed that all who are saved are not only sanctified but also simultaneously glorified. - But he designed that redemption be completed in two stages.
Satans defeat is in two stages. - at the cross (genesis 3:15) - Final doom (Revelation 20:10) Our redemption is in two stages. - By faith (Romans 5:1) - By glorification - when Jesus comes (1 John 3:2) NOT ABLE TO SIN
Conclusion
All born after Adam inherit Adams fallen condition. God could’ve chosen to let man perish or to destroy the devil totally there and then. Instead, however, he had a plan for our salvation, to save humanity from gods wrath, from the power and penalty of sin. He sent a Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice.
1. SUBSTITUTION: Jesus died in my place (1 Peter 3:18). 2. JUSTIFICATION: Jesus made me right with God (Acts 13:39, Romans 4:25). 3. RECONCILIATION: Jesus made peace with God possible (2 Corinthians 5:19, Romans 5:10).
8 Tuesday, 29 September 2020 4. ADOPTION: Jesus made me a part of God’s family (Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:17, Romans 8:15) 5. REDEMPTION: Jesus purchased my salvation with His blood (Colossians 1:13-14, 1 Peter 1:18-19). 6. PROPITIATION: Jesus satisfied God’s justice (1 John 2:2, 4:10). 7. FORGIVENESS: Jesus sent my sins away from me (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:13, Psalm 103:12, Micah 7:19).
1. In the past, I was saved from the penalty of sin (justification). 2. In the present, I am being saved from the power of sin (sanctification). 3. In the future, I will be saved from the presence of sin (glorification).
Proof that I’m a Christian: • The knowledge that God is our heavenly Father (Matthew 11:27) • A new reliance on prayer (Ephesians 6:18) • A new ability to understand Scripture (John 16:13) • A new sense of the seriousness of sin (Titus 2:11-12) • A new love for lost people (Romans 10:1) • A new love for other believers (1 John 3:14)
Why should God allow me into his heaven? Only answer: Because I’ve trusted in Christ’s work on the cross.
Not Because I’m a good person Because I believe in God Because I go to Church If we can answer this question correctly we can relinquish any doubts and fears about the security of our salvation (Hebrews 10:22)
9 Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Once saved always saved? Perhaps the most heart-wrenching fear some believers live with is that we can do something to lose our salvation. But the Bible speaks clearly about the eternality of our salvation and how we are preserved by the One who bought us with His blood.
Is salvation by faith alone, or by faith plus works? Am I saved just by believing in Jesus, or do I have to believe in Jesus and do certain things?
Is baptism required for salvation? What is baptismal regeneration? Baptismal regeneration is the belief that a person must be baptized in order to be saved. While baptism is an important step of obedience for a Christian, the Bible is clear that baptism is not a requirement for salvation.
What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation? Biblical repentance is changing your mind about Jesus Christ and turning to God in faith for salvation (Acts 3:19). Turning from sin is not the definition of repentance, but it is one of the results of genuine, faith-based repentance towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to be a born again Christian? The phrase "born again" literally means "born from above." It is an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the person who believes—a spiritual transformation.
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