Sin Nature of Man and God’s Redemptive Plan
Sin entered into the world through our fair ambassador Adam, thus we bear the nature of corruption, and according to our nature all mankind continues to live in sin and disobedient to God, he is therefore deserving of eternal damnation in hell (i.e. eternal separation from God) But because of God’s loving nature, He made a plan for Man’s redemption which was first revealed after man’s fall from perfection. God’s purpose was next revealed in Noah and then through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and Moses, God committed himself in covenant to these patriarchs and the nation of Israel so that all nations might be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ Fulfills God’s Salvation Plan
Despite the denials and socially conditioned teachings of many churches today, each Man suffers from the consequences of Adam’s sin–guilt.
“[Much of] modern theology may use the term guilt, but because it is not orientated in a true or absolute moral framework, it turns out to be no more than guilt-feelings. And since in most modern system there is no place for true guilt, the death of Jesus on the cross takes on an entirely different meaning. Following from this, the work of Christ and the ministry of the church becomes one of two things: either a basis for sociological motivation, using indefinable religious terms; or a means for psychological integration. In both cases, the connotations used are open to the control of the manipulators (Francis Schaeffer, Words).”
To deny the reality of sin and guilt is to deny the reality and necessity of Jesus Christ. The New Testament attests to the fact that, Christ is the end of Law[the Old Testament covenant] so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. And thus Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise for salvation. God’s plan for salvation includes not those who are the natural born children of Abraham, but all those who believe in Jesus Christ. Gentiles and Jews are united to Christ by faith become Abraham’s seed is in Him.
The Overwhelming Grace of God
No one who hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ will ever come to repentance except that God in his mercy should give him the faith to believe. Jesus said: “No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” Sinful Man chooses Christ only because God has first chosen him. This conundrum is an expression of the essential partnership between God and man in salvation, such that, man is saved by God not because of righteous things we have done, but because of God’s mercy. He saved the faithful through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
The effect of God’s grace is the salvation and regeneration of a man or woman. Thus God’s requirement of faith on behalf of Man should never be considered a work, but rather faith is a rejection of works and an embrace of Jesus Christ alone.
Effects of Salvation
Renewal and Assurance: When one is called to accept Jesus Christ as savior, he is crucified with Christ, raised in the newness of life, made a part of the one Body of Christ, and enabled to live a new life. Man also receives the promise of an eternal life with God in a resurrected spiritual body.
Freedom from slavery to sin: Salvation on earth promises freedom from the bondage of sin, but does not promise a complete regeneration from Man’s sinful nature. A person may still become burdened by sins if he makes poor moral decisions. However, God in His grace and mercy has accounted for this and promises to each member of the Church that He will give them the capacity to overcome this temptation through his Holy Spirit. And by God’s grace He has given us the institution of the Church so that we might be made strong in our weaknesses.
We must be ever vigilant in our rejection of temptation and steadfast in our reliance upon God. The Scriptures do warn us that even after salvation a Man’s conscience can be seared by sinful action and he can fall away from the faith.
“The knot of the question is in the word, fall away… But it must be noticed, that there is a twofold falling away, one particular, and the other general. He who has in anything, or in any ways offended, has fallen away from his state as a Christian; therefore all sins are so many fallings. But the Apostle speaks not here of theft, or perjury, or murder, or drunkenness, or adultery; but he refers to a total defection or falling away from the Gospel, when a sinner offends not God in some one thing, but entirely renounces his grace… For he falls away who forsakes the word of God, who extinguishes its light, who deprives himself of the taste of the heavens or gift, who relinquishes the participation of the Spirit. Now this is wholly to renounce God (John Calvin’s Commentary on Hebrews).”
However, there is a greater hope for all of us in that our salvation through the shed blood of Christ and the sealing of His Holy Spirit, we shall run the race with confidence and we shall enter eternal life with our Lord and Savior.
This blog post is based on my Bible curriculum available at EmergingLife.org.
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I really appreciate the description of soteriology that you presented. Christ has earned our salvation and there is nothing that we can do. The amazing thing about grace is that the Father gave certain sinners to Christ to earn their salvation single handedly. Quite an amazing thought. Most certainly, this ought to spur us on to Christian living rather than passivism.
I’m concerned, though, about something you mentioned. You said that even after we’ve expereienced salvation that we can fall away from the faith. Do you believe in the perseverance/preservation of the saints? If salvation originates in God, is initiated by God, is applied by God, delineated by God, and entirely the work and process of God, then how could we frustrate that? Certainly, if we’re responsible to choose God with our “free will” then we ought to be able to freely unchoose God, or salvation. But we didn’t choose God. He choose us. Did not Christ say in John 6 that he would lose none of those that the Father had given to him but would raise them up on the last day? How can mutable man frustrate the council of the immutable God as Eph 1:11 tells us?
Stand firm, Joe! Synergism over monergism…let your inner Wesley shine forth!
I will try and hang in there Keith. My section now titled “The Overwhelming Grace of God” was once titled “Prevenient Grace.” I just love the imagery of the newer title.
John, ah a fellow Biola student I see. I agree, salvation is neither earned nor unearned. I think Calvin’s description of the 5 woe’s of Hebrews is a good summary though of the Biblical concept of “falling away”.
Terms derived from the Greek word for salvation, soteria, occur over 500 times in the Bible. Fifteen times referring to saviour or saviours. In other passages salvation / saved refers to health, being made whole, healed, doing well, or preserve. Delivered.
Many of those 500+ references refer to being saved from physical enemies or impending servitude we find in Judg 6:14, 1Sam 4:3, 2Kings 16:7; 19:19 and Luke 1:74. (No attempt is being made to cite every reference) We find being saved from physical death recorded in Gen 12:12, Ex 1:22, Deut 20:4, Ez 13:18 and Matt 8:25; 14:30. Salvation concerning God’s protection of the nation of Israel is found in Ex 14:30 “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians.” Other scriptures refer to God’s special promises to Israel to save them from sickness and disease. Ps 103:3; 42:11, 67:2, Mark 16:16-18.
Salvation in the Old Testament is almost always a physical deliverance of some kind. When Moses said to Israel: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,” (Ex 14:13), he was speaking of their physical salvation from the Egyptians. 1 Samuel 11 records Saul saying, “. . . the Lord hath wrought salvation to Israel” ref. Israel’s victory over the Ammonites. David in 2 Samuel 22 is being “delivered out of the hands of his enemy.” Jonah is saved from the whale’s belly. As we see, Israel is looking for deliverance from physical calamity.
Old Testament references to salvation, which include the idea of forgiveness of sin, only become prominent after Messiah is born into the world. The most specific example of this is the angel’s visit to Joseph, saying, ” . . . thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21) .
Salvation in the coming millennial kingdom will involve universal political peace. (Isa 60:1-5; 62:1,2; Zech 8:23; 14:16) The restoration of all things which God promised the prophets. (Acts 3:21), the removal of the curse of creation (Isa 65:17-25) At that time complete physical and material prosperity, and blessing, coupled with spiritual righteousness will reign. Salvation today does not have associate physical and material blessings as we’ve see in the Old Testament and the future age in the millennial kingdom. We can conclude — when speaking about the subject of salvation – - it’s important to determine what we’re being saved from and what we’re being saved to.
Present-day salvation is wholly spiritual in nature. The mercy and grace of God could motivate him to grant any of these time-past material blessing to us today. However, Rom 8:18-25 makes it clear that the believer in this present age is a part of a groaning creation, even as a recipient of the first fruits of the Spirit we go the way of all flesh until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s believer awaits the adoption, that is, the redemption of his body, which will transpire at the coming of Christ for the Church which is His body. Paul references this day again in Eph 1:14; 4:40. He makes it clear that the redemption of the body is a vital part of our salvation in Rom 13:11.
Confusion ensues amongst Christendom when teaching the promises of physical and material blessings of ages past are for present-day believers. Giving hope of material prosperity and physical well being — and let’s not forget world peace! Failure to realize these promised goals has unfortunately caused many to lose faith and to become bitter toward God himself. (The failure is not of God but to those who teach such and refuse to rightly divide the word of truth.)
Regardless of what aspect of Biblical salvation we consider, it must be said that Salvation is of the Lord. Man’s efforts in this area are dismal at best. No one can forgive his own sins. Or bring about world peace. Nor add an additional second to his appointed life. Or attain any sort of self-righteousness. These are the work of God: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)
Salvation is not only entirely of the Lord, it is also through the grace and goodness of God. Some I’ve heard say, “since God created all things, He is responsible for all happenings. He owes it to His creatures to save them.” This reasoning may agree with ’salvation is entirely of the Lord,’ but it denies that it is provided by grace. Scripture clearly tells us mankind deserves condemnation and judgment and is undeserving of salvation of any kind. God is under no obligation to save anyone. God’s provision for salvation for lost mankind comes from his infinite love for His creation. The acceptance of that provision has been the responsibility of mankind in every age.
As a general observation, God’s provision for salvation in every age has been gracious in character and has always been received by man through faith. (The manifestation of such a faint has varied during the course of each economy; however.) There could be no faith in a crucified and risen Christ in a time-past economy. For several thousand years of human history before the advent of Christ, faith must have been exercised in a message different from this present age. (No “types and shadows” is sufficient replacement for the understanding of grace via the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ – - – all too evident is the example of the 12’s understanding — recorded in Luke 18:31-34)
Because faith required the Old Testament believer to do certain things, such as animal sacrifices, it’s easy to errantly conclude these people were saved by works. However, these works were an expression of their faith. It was their faith that saved them. As we see with Cain and Able where Abel’s animal sacrifice attested to his faith and Cain’s vegetable sacrifice attested to his unbelief. When God said build an Ark: faith proceeded the first gopher wood gatherings. When God commanded water baptism for the remission of sins, faith submitted to water baptism. Faith in God brought these time-past believers into a saving relationship with God. The works they did were the works of faith and not the works of the flesh, as were Cain’s. Would have Abel refused to sacrifice, or Noah not to build the Ark, or if three thousand souls at Pentecost avoided baptism — in the words of James, “Could that kind of faith save them?” In what case can we conclude refusing God would be called faith? Such refusal can mean but one thing: unbelief!
Faith and the works of faith are so closely identified that the casual observer would conclude the saints of any age cannot be saved apart from works which God commanded, since the works were a manifestation of their faith; but it was not the works themselves which saved them — it was their faith in God.
Romans 3:21,22 shows the distinction between the obtaining of righteousness in this dispensation as compared to the former dispensation. In the Old Testament there was the righteousness of God in association with the law, but Paul states. NOW the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. In this dispensation God does not say, Believe and offer sacrifices, Believe and be baptized, Believe and be circumcised, Believe and do anything else in order to be saved. Faith now is in the finished work of Christ. Faith accepts the fact the Christ has done all of the work necessary for salvation , and therefore it simply rests in a completed work. We are talking about that which justifies the sinner before God, and not about the good works unto which the sinner has been saved. The believer’s life should abound in good works, but these are the result of salvation and not the cause of it.