The Biblical Doctrine of Salvation Maintaining Truth and Unity by Pastor Matt Postiff, Ph.D., Th.M. Electronic copy of these materials is available at http://fbcaa.org/ucb/ Workshop #1 Salvation: Labels and Positions Introduction My name is Matt Postiff. I have been a pastor in Ann Arbor, Michigan for over 10 years and I have been involved in active Christian ministry for almost 20 years. I have been married since 2003 to Naomi, and have three sons named David, John, and Daniel (ages 11, 10, and 7). Prior to becoming a pastor full-time, I studied and worked in the area of computer engineering. I received a doctorate (Ph.D.) in computer engineering in 2001 and did consulting work with a multi-national company headquartered in Silicon Valley in the state of California. As a result of having this training, I also have interests in technology ministry through websites and Bible translation software. I have been preparing for this conference since May, and I have been joined in prayer by members of the GMSA (MESA) leadership, missionaries, and friends, asking that God would use this time to inform, encourage, and strengthen you and your churches throughout Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. In these days of apostasy, it is important to apply ourselves diligently to all the doctrines of Scripture. I hope our time together will be a blessing to you. The topic of that we will consider in these sessions is the doctrine of salvation or soteriology. We want to examine what the Bible teaches about God's way of salvation. We want to understand different beliefs in this area of theology and be able to evaluate them through the lens of the Bible. In order to do this, I have been asked to do at least four workshops in which I speak on the various labels and positions, the Biblical tensions regarding the intention of the atonement, how to handle differences among ourselves, and how to emphasize evangelism in our churches and personal lives. I hope that these topics will best meet the current needs of you as pastors and of the church association. We have been praying to that end. To put this into context for the missionaries, you may remember that almost 3 years ago in Paysandu I taught one workshop on the definition of Reformed Theology. There we said that reformed theology consists of historic orthodoxy, reformation doctrines, the fundamentals of the faith, covenant theology, and Calvinism. It is on this last issue—Calvinism—and its main alternative system—Arminianism, that we will spend a lot of time thinking about in the first couple of workshops. Conferencia Pastoral de la UCB | 17 - 20 de Octubre 2016 | Pastor Matt Postiff, Ph.D., Th.M. 1 The issues we will speak about are very sensitive because they touch on the very core of the atonement. I also want to say that I did not come to the conference to make trouble or stir up hard feelings about theology. I came to be a help and blessing, and have prayed that God will use these sessions to be a help to us. My position is 4-point Calvinist, and I strongly believe in the need and practice of evangelism. But I am not here primarily to convince you to believe my position. I do not preach Calvinism or Arminianism in my church. I don't often use these labels. I don't spend tons of time preaching on election or inability. I preach the Bible verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph, through entire books of the Bible. I am first and foremost a Bible man. Our church is a Bible church. We believe in the sole authority and sufficiency of the Bible. Systems of theology are necessary and natural because we as humans are organizers and systematizers. But they must not become our source of authority. Scripture is that. Furthermore, our people are not fed properly unless they receive a steady diet of Bible. It is Bible for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bible for meat and potatoes. Bible for dessert, and bedtime snack too! Therefore, I hope to help you evaluate your own theology of salvation by the Bible and be sure you are following Scripture; but also that when you run into someone who holds some different views, you know the best way to manage that. I hope that after we are done, we will be better equipped to maintain the truth that has been delivered to us, and to keep the unity of the Spirit that Jesus desires us to have. We will have accomplished our goal if we are more Biblically informed and can handle differences in our fellowship with Christ-like love and humility. In this first session, our goal will be to better understand the major positions concerning the doctrine of salvation so that we will not misuse the various labels. UCB Doctrine of Salvation We begin with what we believe and share in common. The following is copied from the Reglamentos Internos Iglesia Evangelical Unión de Centros Biblicos Chile (Versión 3, Julio 2015).1 5.- El Hombre Creemos que el ser humano fue creado a imagen de Dios por un acto directo y sobrenatural de El. Por el pecado del primer hombre, Adán, la humanidad incurrió en el castigo de la muerte física y espiritual, quedando de esta manera separada de Dios. En consecuencia, todos los seres humanos nacen con una naturaleza pecaminosa y son responsables de sus pensamientos, palabras y actos. El hombre necesita la salvación y no puede obtenerla por propios recursos, capacidades o actos de cualquier tipo. Gen. 1:27; Ro. 3:23; 5:12; 6:23; Gá. 5:l7ss; Ef. 2:1ss.; Ro. 3:23 6.- La Obra de Cristo Creemos que la muerte de Cristo en a cruz fue un sacrificio vicario y expiatorio. Con base en el 1 This is the latest edition that I have in my posssession. I would welcome someone to send me the latest version, if there is one. I do not have similar statements for UCB in Argentina or UCB in Uruguay. Conferencia Pastoral de la UCB | 17 - 20 de Octubre 2016 | Pastor Matt Postiff, Ph.D., Th.M. 2 derramamiento de Su sangre, Su resurrección corporal y su ascensión a la diestra del Padre, El provee salvación completa para todos y es el Salvador de todos que creen. Él está ahora en el cielo como intercesor y abogado a favor de los creyentes. 1ª Tim.2:6; 1ª Ped. 3:16; 1ª Co. 15:1ss; 1ª Jn. 2:1; He. 7:25. 7.- Justificación y Nuevo Nacimiento Creemos que cada persona que recibe a Jesucristo como su único Salvador y Señor por medio de la fe solamente, aparte de cualquier obra humana, es declarada justa ante Dios en virtud de justicia y la obra salvadora de Cristo. Es nacido de lo alto y llega a ser un hijo de Dios creado en Cristo Jesús para buenas obras sirviendo al Señor. Todos los redimidos son guardados eternamente por el poder de Dios. Jn. 1:12- 13; Ro. 3:21ss; 8:1, 29ss; 2ª Co. 5:17; Ef. 2:8-10; 1ª Jn. 5:11-12; Jn. 10:28-29. 8.- Santificación Creemos que cada persona que está en Cristo ya es santificada, o sea, apartada para Dios, en cuanto a su posición ante Él. Dios ha hecho provisión mediante la obra de Cristo y el ministerio del Espíritu Santo para que el creyente pueda vencer el pecado y crecer en santidad, vivir una vida llena del Espíritu y consagrada a Dios. La santificación del creyente no será completa en su vida terrenal hasta el día de la redención final en los cielos. 1ª. Cor.1:2; Rom. 6:6, 11-13; Gál. 5:16; Ef. 1:7; 4:30; 5:17ss; 2ª. Ped. 3:18; 1ª Tes. 5:23; 1ª Jn. 3:2. As best I can understand this statement of belief, it agrees very well with the views still held by the missionaries of Gospel Mission of South America (MESA). I am in agreement with it, as far as it goes. The Major Theological Positions on Salvation Pelagianism This heretical doctrine teaches that man’s nature is basically good, and “that original sin did not taint human nature and that the mortal will is capable of choosing good or evil without special divine aid.”2 Man has a free will and his nature is basically good. Each man is born today like Adam was created in the past, pure and upright. Most non Christians embrace this kind of view of mankind. We hear it from the highest levels of society and from the man on the street. Origin: Pelagius Morgan, British teacher in Rome, 5th century AD.3 Short statement: Man is good. Rebuttal: Biblical texts like Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:9-12, Romans 5:12-19, Ephesians 2:1-3. Diagram of Romans 3:9b-12 This text shows that the Pelagian assertion that original sin did not damage or stain human nature is false. Here is the text in Greek: 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagianism 3 https://carm.org/pelagianism Conferencia Pastoral de la UCB | 17 - 20 de Octubre 2016 | Pastor Matt Postiff, Ph.D., Th.M. 3 9b προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας πάντας ὑφ᾽ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι, 10 καθὼς γέγραπται ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιος οὐδὲ εἷς, 11 οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνίων, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὸν θεόν. 12 πάντες ἐξέκλιναν ἅμα ἠχρεώθησαν· οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ποιῶν χρηστότητα, [οὐκ ἔστιν] ἕως ἑνός. Paul writes so that we are certain that all humanity: every person who has ever lived, ever will live, or is now living, is described by the passage.