Lecture 15: What Christians Believe about Salvation Flashcards
What is Salvation?
- We are saved from Sin
- Sin has three effects
1. Sin makes us guilty
2. Sin corrupts everything
3. Sin separates us from God
Sin Makes us Guilty
- Because of Sin we deserve death
- Therefore, one aspect of salvation is that we are saved from death
Sin Corrupts Everything
- Part of the effect of sin is the corruption of all of creation
- Therefore, part of salvation is the restoration of all creation
Sin Separates us from God
- Humanity was created for relationship with God. Because of sin, this relationship was severed
Humanity needed a way to atone for sin in order to have a right relationship with God
3 Ways Salvation Overcomes Sin
- Sin makes us guilty, deserving death –> Jesus saves us from death
- Sin corrupts all of creation –> Jesus sets in motion the restoration of all creation
- Sin separates us from God –> Jesus reconciles us to God
Is Salvation merely the Cancelation of Sin?
- Deification: a transformative process of salvation whose aim is likeness to our union with God
- Jesus’ salvation of humanity includes providing a way for us to be in full communion with God
- In positive terms: Jesus provides a way for humanity to be deified: to become like God, and to be in full communion with God
How does Jesus Save?
- His Life: the revelation of God
- His Death: the redemption of humanity
- His Resurrection: the victory over Sin, Death, and Satan
Theories of Atonement
There are metaphors or different emphasis for what Jesus did on the cross. Different ways of talking about what Jesus did. Not competing. They are understood as different facets of Jesus redemption, each one focusing on a different aspect
Sacrificial Lamb Theory
- In his death on the cross, Jesus provided the perfect sacrifice for humanity’s sin
- Jesus purifies and removes the sin of humanity, so we can be restored to God
Sacrificial Lamb Theory
- In his death on the cross, Jesus provided the perfect sacrifice for humanity’s sin
- Jesus purifies and removes the sin of humanity, so we can be restored to God
Recapitulation Theory
- Jesus is the new Adam. Where Adam failed and caused humanity to fall, Jesus succeeded and restored humanity
Ransom Theory
- By his death Jesus paid the ransom or humanity, in order to redeem us from death
- Who did Jesus pay this ransom to?
- According to the early church, Jesus paid this ransom to Satan, ‘the ruler of the world’
Christus Victor Theory
In this model Jesus dies to defeat Satan
- Satan had no authority to kill a sinless person. So, when Satan accepted Jesus’ death in place of humanity, Satan overstepped his authority, and his power was defeated
Satisfaction Theory
- Jesus’ death was not a ransom payment to Satan, but a payment of debt to God
- Anselm: “therefore, everyone who sins is under an obligation to repay to God the honour which he has violently taken from him, and this is the satisfaction which every sinner is obliged to give to God.”
- Because Jesus is fully God and fully Human, his meritorious death provides the necessary satisfaction for the offence of human sin
Penal Substitutionary Atonement
- Jesus’ death comes to be seen as taking the punishment that humanity deserves as a moral consequence for sin
- God is bound by justice, so he cannot forgive humanity for its sin until the punishment for sin is paid
- So, God sends his Son to earth to suffer the punishment (penal) that humanity deserves, in their place (substitutionary), in order that sin is justly dealt with (atonement)
