Soteriology - the Doctrine of Salvation
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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.