Theological Term of the Week: Soteriology

soteriology
The branch of theology that examines the biblical teaching about salvation, including God’s eternal plan to save sinners, Christ’s work in history to secure the salvation of sinners, and the Holy Spirit’s work regenerating and transforming sinners.

• Soteriology in scripture:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3-14 ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV)

• Answers to a few soteriolical questions in From The Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.




Q. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us,and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.




Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ,freely offered to us in the gospel.




Q. 32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
A. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.




Q. 33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.




Q. 34. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace,a whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.




Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.




Q. 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.




Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united in Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.




Q. 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

A. At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, page 415:

Soteriology deals with the communication of the blessings of salvation to the sinner and his restoration to divine favor and to a life in intimate communion with God. It presupposes knowledge of God as the all-sufficient source of the life, the strength, and the happiness of mankind, and of man’s utter dependence on Him for the present and the future. Since it deals with restoration, redemption and renewal, it can only be understood properly in the light of the original condition of man as created in the image of God, and the subsequent disturbance of the proper relationship between man and his God by the entrance of sin into the world. Moreover, since it treats of the salvation of the sinner wholly as a work of God, known to Him from all eternity, it naturally carries our thoughts back to the eternal counsel of peace and the covenant of grace, in which provision was made for the redemption of fallen men. It proceeds on the assumption of the completed work of Christ as the Mediator of redemption. There is the closest possible connection between Christology and Soteriology. Some, as, for instance, Hodge, treat of both under the common heading “Soteriology.” In defining the contents of Soteriology, it is better to say that it deals with the application of the work of redemption than to say that it treats of the appropriation of salvation. The matter should be studied theologically rather than anthropologically. The work of God rather than the work of man is definitely in the foreground.

Learn more:

1. Compelling Truth: What questions about salvation does soteriology address?
2. J. Hampton Keathley III: Soteriology — The Doctrine of Salvation
3. Louis Berkhof: Systematic Theology, see Soteriology in General under Part 4

Related terms:

• adoption
• definite atonement
• effectual call
• election
• glorification
• imputation
• justification
• ordo salutis
• penal substitution
• perseverance of the saints
• propitiation
• reconciliation
• redemption
• regeneration
• repentance
• salvation
• sanctification
• union with Christ

Filed under Salvation

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Theological Term of the Week: Solus Christus

solus Christus
One of five Latin statements that summarize the core teachings of the Protestant Reformation. It means “Christ alone,” and refers to the truth that salvation is based exclusively on the mediatorial work of Christ. His sinless life and substitutionary death are the sufficient and sole grounds on which those who are being saved receive all the benefits included in their salvation.

• From scripture:

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time (1 Timothy 1:5-6 ESV).

• From The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 8: 

Of Christ the Mediator

I. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of His Church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom He did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed,and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

V. The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, has fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for those whom the Father has given unto Him.

VIII. To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption, He does certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same; making intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually persuading them by His Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by His word and Spirit; overcoming all their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom, in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant to His wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.

• From Living For God’s Glory by Joel Beeke, page 144:

If you are a true son or daughter of the Reformation, Christ in His threefold office as Prophet-Priest-King will mean everything to you. The gospel is a gospel of solus Christus because, from beginning to end, it has everything to do with who Christ is and shat He accomplished outside of us, for us, in our stead. Do you love and live solus Christus? Do you love him in his person, offices, natures, and benefits? Is he your Prophet to teach you; your priest to sacrifice for, intercede for, and bless you; and your King to rule and guide you?

Have you learned to know Christ personally and experientially as your Savior and Lord? Have you learned that He is more than an example whom we should emulate, more than a martyr who is heroic, more than a psychotherapist who gives you health and wealth? Have you learned that, in terms of salvation, Jesus Christ is everything to you, a sinner?

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: Why is solo Christo important?
2. Logonier Ministries: Christ Alone
3. Steven Lawson: Solus Christus
4. D. Blair Smith: What Does “Solus Christus” Mean?
5. Steven Wellum: The Five Solas: Christ Alone
6. Steven Wellum: 5 Reasons Solus Christus Is at the Heart of the Five Solas

Related terms:

• five solas
• sola fide
• sola scriptura
• solus Christus
• soli Deo gloria

Filed under Salvation

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Theological Term of the Week: Sola Gratia

sola gratia
One of five Latin statements that summarize the core teachings of the Protestant Reformation. The phrase means “grace alone,” and affirms that God’s grace in Christ is the “sole efficient cause of salvation.”¹ In other words, God saves human beings because he is gracious toward them, not because they meet any conditions.

• From scripture:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV).

• From The Westminster Confession of Faith: 

Chapter 10. Of Effectual Calling.

2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man; who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.

Chapter 11. Of Justification.

1. Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous: not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

Chapter 12. Of Adoption.

1. All those that are justified God vouchsafeth, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption; by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God….

Chapter 13. Of Sanctification.

1. They who are effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them; the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened, in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.


Chapter 14. Of Saving Faith.

1. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word; by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments and prayer, it is increased and strengthened.


Chapter 15. Of Repentance unto Life.

1. Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the gospel, as well as that of faith in Christ.

Chapter 16. Of Good Works.

3. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ. And that they may be enabled thereunto, besides the graces they have already received, there is required an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure; yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent, as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit; but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them.


Chapter 17. Of the Perseverance of the Saints.

2. This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

• From Living For God’s Glory by Joel Beeke, page 135:

Grace is most commonly defined as the unmerited favor of God, but … that definition doesn’t go far enough. The nineteenth-century Calvinistic Baptist William Newman once put it like this: grace is “the free favour of God … conferred … upon the unworthy.” Those who receive grace are not merely helpless sinners who are undeserving, but are hostile rebels against God with bad hearts and bad records. God is not obligated to be kind or gracious to them. They are sinners, deserving only hell. But in accord with his nature, God showers an entirely underserved love upon them—and as He does so, their lives are changed forever. As Ephesians 2:4-5 puts it, it is out of a heart full of rich mercy and great love that God saves—rescues, frees, liberates—sinners by grace. Though the are unlovely and loathsome to Him because of their sin, God shows love toward them. He pardones their sins, gives them knowledge of Himself, and moves them to repond with sincerity to His grace. By free, sovereign grace, therefore, we mean that the supreme God of heaven and earth—the sovereign triune God of salvation—freely wills and applies saving grace to guily, contemptable sinners, transforming their lives so that they enjoy Him and live for His service.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: Why is sola gratia important?
2. Compelling Truth: What is the significance of “sola gratia”?
3. Levi Berntson: What Does “Sola Gratia” Mean?
4. Guy Waters: Sola Gratia: Christians Are Saved by the Grace of God Alone
5. Kim Riddlebarger: Grace Alone: An Evangelical Problem?
6. R. C. Sproul: The Sufficiency of Grace
7. Michael Horton: Five Solas: Grace Alone 
8. Martin Blocki: The Reformation Solas: Sola Gratia

Related terms:

• five solas
• sola fide
• sola scriptura
• solus Christus
• soli Deo gloria

1The Cambridge Declaration

Filed under Salvation

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.