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Soteriology – The Doctrine of Salvation

This paper deals specifically with the soteriology and is aimed at the doctrinal position description towards salvation. The idea of the paper is to present the common beliefs about the doctrine of salvation and personal opinions of different people. The overall meaning of the paper is to address the clarity and consistency aspects in order to express the position and experience of other people along with their understanding of salvation. The major aspects of the paper are to address the definition of grace with its distinction between the “common grace” and “special grace”, cover the description of the biblical doctrine in the relation to “election”, and contemplate about the thoughts of people regarding why a particular person is “chosen in Christ”. It is also important to address the definition of “atonement” in relation to what is found to be atonement itself as well as the extent of this notion. Particular emphasis is made on the summary of the biblical material considering the so-called “gospel call” and “effectual call”. Another very significant aspect to report is the description of regeneration, its source and effects along with the description of conversion, comprising the connection between faith and regret. Special attention is given to the biblical explanation of the doctrine of justification and its explanation of God’s work including the believer and relationship to one’s determinations in order to persist in faith (Brents 35).

Definition of grace

The definition of the word “grace” is hard to pursue, and it challenges people to understand the Bible Ledge while telling the God’s boundless salvation. In fact, it is met about 130 times in the New Testament. According to the Ephesians, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). If to translate the word from Greek, it will mean “charis”. This meaning is known as the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Grace could also be explained with the word “graciousness” that lives in heaven and influences the heart and soul of every life reflection. In other words, “charis” is clarified as “liberality” (Corinthians 16) as the most significant definition of this word (Chamberlain 28).

The grace of God is revealed in several ways with a distinction between the understanding of terms “common grace” and “special grace”. A detailed explanation shows that the common grace is the one exposed by the God who created the world and people. In fact, the common grace of God is offered without the responsiveness and recognition by people. The idea is to allow people become a true member of the Holy World and start personal relationships with Jesus Christ. Special grace reveals the gospel of power of the Holy Spirit that demonstrates the admission of Christ by humans. It is acknowledged that special grace is given to every single person who is “willing to start the personal relationships with the God with the only intention to live with Him and for Him” (Waite 19).

Description of the biblical doctrine of election

The biblical standing of the doctrine of election is founded on the understanding that God is the Holy Spirit and every single thing which He offers to people should be accepted with gratitude. Hence, every His word or action is made with an intention to teach people and help them grow in their faith. There is a philosophy in the Bible saying that the God “would have all men to be saved, and come to the know-ledge of the truth” (Timothy 2:4).            Consequently, countless episodes of the Bible illustrate that the “God loves every human being and has acted to make possible the salvation of each one”. It is supported with the understanding of the death of Jesus Christ that “was for every man, and makes it possible for every man to receive atonement for his sins” (Murray 24).

The consideration towards the question when and why people are “chosen in Christ” is, therefore, of importance. Based on the other passages of the Bible, any particular person becomes “chosen in Christ” only after the one demonstrates a true love to the God and values the death of His only child for the eternal life of the humanity (Revelation 22:17). This could be supported with the following passage, “And the spirit and the bride say, come. And he who hears, let him say, come. And he who is athirst, let him come: he who will, let him take the water of life freely” (Shank 17).

In other words, as stated by the biblical doctrine,the election of the God is granted with the fact of a man “to have a free will to decide on the moral principles and the God is the one to choose whether those principles adhere to the Holy will of the Creator”. The Bible Ledge teaches people about salvation by means of the atonement of Christ that is offered for everyone who agreed to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the overall doctrine of the Bible states that every single man on Earth has the right of salvation, though the election is not connected with the free will of other people around the world (Akin 1).

There is a book of Dr. Alan Richardson, An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament where he states the deeper understanding and perception of the election of God. According to Dr. Alan, “The election in the Old Testament is to service of God in this world and has nothing at all to do with salvation in the world to come”. Therefore, another Bible observation of the doctrine of election explains that “everyone on this Earth was born with the number of sins, unsaved and unregenerate” (Isa 53:6, Rom 3:10-12, 2363). At the same time, there are no people who deserve salvation despite the fact of being elected by the God.  “The one and only man who was born with no sins is the Jesus”.  This was the only one to be chosen by the God since the moment of birth (Leith 163).

Definition of the atonement

As people know, Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, sacrificed himself in order to pay for the sins of the people all over the world. He agreed with His destiny in the body of a human by means of satisfying the Father and becoming the justification of the whole humankind with the right of a free will and faith of atonement. In other words, “Atonement is a major aspect of protection for the humanity that Jesus Christ offered by His death. Indeed, those sins He died for were totally the ones of humans but He agreed to take the responsibility for the entire nation and their souls (John 4:10 and Timothy 2:5-6). There are three different views of the atonement and their extent. These are unlimited atonement in the view of Arminianism and limited atonement in the views of Hyper-Calvinism and Calvinism (Fisk 56).

The first unlimited view considers the fact that “Jesus died for the sins of the entire human race”. Therefore, the atonement of Jesus is necessary for the nation and works for the people who truly believe in the only God. This definition illustrates the connection of God and people according to which, “All the people have a free will but only those who choose to believe in their hearts will have an eternal life with God” (John 1:29; 3:16-17, Corinthians 5:14-15, Timothy 2:3-6, Hebrews 2:9 and Peter 3:9; 1).

The limited Atonement is split into different views of Calvinism and Hyper-Calvinism. The opinion of Hyper-Calvinism addresses the aspects of “Jesus’s death in favor of the election of God but not for the mankind” (Matthew 1:21; 20:28; 26:28, John 10:11, 15, 26-27, Ephesians 5:25). Consequently, the Atonement of Jesus Christ works only for those people who have already chosen the God as the only Spirit. This position is seen to be the transition between the people of faith and God, meaning that God Himself will elect those people and take them to heaven (Brents 35).

The opinion of Calvinism reveals the view that the death of Jesus Christ was for all the people, with the only difference that “He sacrificed His human life for the already elected believers” (Timothy 4:10 and Peter 2:1).  The dissimilarity of views is hidden in the objective and subjective opinions of the Jesus Christ’s atonement, the core of which is satisfactory for those people who were elected by God. Those who do not have the faith in Jesus could not cross the borders of heaven without His election (Charnock 326-327).

Summary of the biblical material

The most fruitful understanding of God and Bible Ledge is the spiritual fulfillment of those people who have agreed to “accept the Holy Lord with all their heart and soul and accept Him as their only God with all the faith, love, mercy, long-suffering, sovereignty, and rights”. With this, the best means of a true communication is love and prayers. Those who choose to reject His Holy blessings will lose their way to prosperity and deserve punishment with the most hurt and suffering that will last for the eternity (Gaffin 129).

God says, “Incline your ear and come unto Me.” The most significant idea of this phase is to understand that it comes from the Holy Spirit and the God Himself. Every individual has to know that “God wishes the salvation of all the people but not the death of the wicked ones” (Eze. 18:23; 33:11 and Pet. 3:9). The gospel call illustrates the command along with the call for accepting God and learn how to become one of those selected people for the eternal life (Matt. 22:1-14 and Luke 14:16-24).

The tempting grace or so-called “effectual call” is known as the supreme work of God. By his sacrifice, He elects people by their words and faith along with the spirit and soul. Such a choice is guided by the ability to strictly follow the laws of God and thus have the eternal life with the Jesus Christ. There is no harm in the free will and freedom that is given to the mankind. The God wants people to learn the truth about how to live with faith in heart. The major instruments are the “gospel and effectual call, the unaffected offer of mercy and a special grace”. The overall call is based on the “election and predestination along with the eternal purpose of the will power as well as the holy sacrifice” (Charnock 326-327).

Description of regeneration, its sources and effects

According to the Bible Ledge, “The regeneration is considered to be the work of God’s invincible power and ordinary grace”. The source of regeneration is hidden in the Holy Spirit of God who accepts any person with all its sins and allows him to live after death in a new body but with the same mind and soul. The effect is to make people perceive the saint will of God and help them assess their sins and improve their service of God. Only such actions of regular people would be accepted by Jesus Christ in favor of the salvation and embracement; there will be no place for a judgment and punishment, just the life in the Holy Spirit (Archibald 27).

Description of conversion

The Bible meaning of conversion in a religious understanding reflects the “change of the attitude of beliefs of people in a religion”. With this, the type of religion does not make any difference; the idea is to create the relationships in the community with the specific emphasis on faith and repentance. This term is used to talk about the group of people who have a specific religious belief towards the personal connection that reveals the transformation of the community and religious expectations. The only focus is put towards the “experience people have when communicating with God in Christ”. Such a process of faith involves the respect of both the outside and inside conversion of faith and repentance (Wells 78).

Biblical description of the doctrine of justification

By tradition, the perception of justification has several principles of the Reformation Theology and its control over the major determinant factors such as formal, which defines the faith of people that is revealed in their true face and material that defines their substance. These principles address the Bible Ledge from the position of personality and demonstrate the gospel call through the Testament Theology (Wright 13).

Explanation of God’s work

The God’s work has many explanations in the Bible Ledge, though the overall understanding is to protect the people who truly believe in God and have constant relationships with Him; the idea is to continue the Holy determinations to persist in the world of faith. The best illustration of the God’s work is given in the Ephesians 4: 1, according to which, “Even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love”. This is supported with the other passage in the Bible that says, “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Hence, the reason for the life of people is known in the God’s work as well as His willingness to allow people to live in pleasure and with the goal to serve Him. In other words, the God works every single day with the faith that people should have for Him. He works to affirm the lives of people and care about their embracement. The church is the place of work where God produces the outcomes of every sphere of life which people have on Earth (Nee 9 – 13). 

CONCLUSION

To realize my opinion and the significance of this paper, the soteriology was covered in the doctrine of salvation towards the statements and beliefs of different people along with the clarity and consistency of the revealed positions that were expressed in the paper. Now the idea is not only to perceive the valuable information covered above but to implement it in the daily practice. My personal goal is to apply every single aspect of this work towards my life and serve as an example for other people on their way to the Holy Spirit. The purpose is to understand the human life and daily activities and put them ahead in the work for the will of God. As far as I understand, the meaning of the life becomes real only after one has other people who have been inspired for the God’s service. It has a tremendous meaning for Jesus, and I truly believe that such kind of life would have the pleased outcomes for all: the God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. For me personally, this is the most important job as well as a mission to pursue.