Mechanics of Salvation Update 1

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Jeff Parker in Christianiry, religion

Tags

Christianity, Death, Salvation, Servant Evangelism

I want to begin this discussion with an apology. I have the distinct feeling that this particular discussion is going to be both lengthy and perhaps a tad bit confusing and wondering. Recently, the Holy Spirit has led to begin an in depth study of the mechanics of salvation. I am currently in the course of this study, and therefore do not even pretend to have a precise picture of the entire mechanic of salvation. What I do have is a series of interconnected thoughts and revelations that seem to indicate that the mechanics of salvation are so much deeper and complex than the body of Christ even realizes. So with that in mind, I hope you humbly accept this attempt to but some order to thoughts that are so much higher than my own and will forgive any inconsistent or unclear ideas.

So what is the fate of those who have never heard the gospel? I guess the best place to start to answer that question is where God started the journey with me. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:12, NIV). As I approached this verse, I came at it from two perspectives. First, in what context did Paul write this verse? Secondly, what did Paul mean by death?

The context of the passage actually begins in chapter 5 of Romans, where Paul argues that just as one man Adam brought death into the world through sinning; Christ, as one man, brought life through his death and resurrection (5:12). He develops this thought through the rest of chapter 5 and into chapter 6 where he seemingly concludes the idea by saying, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (6:6). Except Paul doesn’t stop there. He interjects one last thought in verse 7 as if everything he had said prior to this hinged on this last idea. I believe it does.

From the beginning of the thought in chapter 5 up until verse 7 of chapter 6, Paul’s whole argument is stated in two central ideas:

Adam, as one man, brought death into the world through sinning. Christ, as one man, brought life into the world through His death and resurrection.
We are freed from sin because death frees us; and through the mysterious ways of God we partake of Christ’s death and resurrection.

As I pondered over these two themes, two questions confronted me. What exactly was the impact of Christ’s death and resurrection? Secondly, what exactly did Paul mean by death? I understood immediately to answer the first question, I had to understand and answer the second. It was this question that became the next step of the journey.

According to most scholars, there are two types of death, the physical and the spiritual. The physical refers to the cessation of life in a physical being; while the spiritual death is the “result of being cut off from God” (Davids). The question is which one was Paul referring to?

Paul writes, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:4). In other words we partake of Christ’s death when we believe, so what kind of death did Christ endure? It seems unlikely that it was a spiritual death based on the definition alone. Christ, was fully God (John 1:1). Can God separate himself from himself? This does not make sense, in fact it almost verges on the ridiculous. And as Towns points out, “He [God] cannot do impossibilities or absurdities” (Towns).

Another reason that makes Paul’s reference to death a spiritual one is the historical fact of Christ’s death. Christ died on a cross in ancient Rome. He was buried in a tomb. This is historically accurate. The Jewish historian Josephus writes, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross” (Josephus).

So what conclusion can be drawn from this? Obviously, Paul must have been referring to a physical death. It is Christ’s physical death that we partake of. Yet, the apostle also writes, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (v.8). Yet, it cannot be died that even believers die physically. This brings us to the idea of judgment.

God’s judgment is an ongoing, multifaceted occurrence. It is not a solo event within the course of history. Youngblood alludes to this in his definition when he writes, “Divine Judgment is God’s method of displaying his mercy as well as his wrath” (Youngblood). In fact, there seems to be two distinct judicial distinctions within God’s divine judgment – wrath towards the sinful nature within man and mercy towards the individual being of man. Paul makes this distinction, when he writes, “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

This distinction brings the discussion full circle to the original question. What is the fate of those who have never heard the gospel? The answer must be that they will hear it from Jesus in person at his second coming. The Apostle John was given a glimpse of the divine judgment that will occur at the time. He wrote, “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done” (Revelation 20:13). This judgment cannot be for the purposes of salvation because as Paul states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesian 2:8-9).

If this is not a judgment of individual to salvation, then what is it? It must be a judgment on rewards for actions. If that is the case then it a demonstration of mercy and not wrath. If it is not wrath and they are receiving rewards then the dead must have been received into the kingdom. If they have been received into the kingdom then they must have been given the chance to choose Christ after their initial death.

So what does this mean for evangelizing today? Jesus said “the kingdom of God is at hand; and later, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Matthew3:2, Mark 10:15). As Ladd points out is the blessing of submitting to the rule of God that we receive (Ladd). It is experience of trading sorrow for joy in which we share the gospel to world. As Wright points out, “Atonement, redemption and salvation are what happen on the way because engaging in this work demands that people themselves be rescued from the powers that enslave the world in order that they can be rescuers in return” (Wright).

To put it another way, we are not leading sinful man to God, God is using us to draw all men to him. Arnold puts it this way, “Most folks feel that the main purpose of the death of Christ was to bring sinful men to God. However, I would like to suggest that an even greater problem was solved in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The Cross solved the problem of how to bring a holy and righteous God to sinful men. Through redemption (sinward), reconciliation (manward), and justification, man is brought to God, but through propitiation (godward), God is brought to man” (Arnold). It is this focus which evangelism today should have.

Works Cited

Arnold, Dr. Jack L. “PROPITIATION: A Study on Roman 3:24-26.” III Magizine Online July – August 1999. Web.

Craigie, P. C. “Mercy.” Elwell, Walter A. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2001. 761. Print.

Davids, P. H. “Death.” Elwell, Walter A. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2001. 324-325. Print.

Josephus, Flavius. THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. n.d. E-book.

Ladd, George Eldon. “The Gospel of the Kingdom.” Winter, Ralph D. and Stephen C. Hawethorne. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009. 83-85. Print.

Robinson, W. C. “Wrath of God.” Elwell, Walter A. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2001. 1304. Print.

Towns, Elmer L. Theology for Today. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2008. Book.

Wright, N. T. “To Inaugurate His Kingdom: His Deeds, Death and Resurrection.” Winter, Ralph D. and Stephen C. Hawethorne. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Pasedena: William Carey Library, 2009. 105. Print.

Youngblood, R. “Judgment.” Elwell, Walter A. The Dictionary of Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2001. 639. Print.

All scriptures are from the NIV

The Mechanics of Salvation

14 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by Jeff Parker in religion

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christianity, Death, Jesus, Salvation

In Romans chapter 7, the Apostle Paul uses the marriage covenant to show that we are no longer bound by the law in death. He writes,

that the law is binding on a person during that person’s life time? Thus a married woman is bound by the lay to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies she is free from that law and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. – Romans 7:1b – 3, NSRV

As I looked at this analogy from the standpoint of how God views sins of the believer, I began to understand a crucial mechanic of God’s plan of salvation. I call this the Death Mechanism. Let’s take a look at how this mechanism works.

According to scripture there are only three reasons that a marriage covenant can be dissolved for a believer.

Marital unfaithfulness (Matthew 5:32)
Death (Romans 71b – 3)
An unbelieving spouse deciding to leave (1 Corinthians 7:15)

Paul focuses on death as an approved reason for dissolving the marriage covenant in his letter to the church in Rome. His claim is essentially this that when a person is married and one the spouses dies the surviving spouse is no longer obligated to the marriage covenant. The question then becomes what kind of death does Paul mean? Does death refer to a spiritual death as a result of sin or does it refer to a physical death?

It seems unlikely that Paul was referring to a spiritual death. For if he was referring to a spiritual death, than any sin be it lying, coveting, idolatry, greed, pride, ect. would be a viable reason to dissolve the marriage covenant. Yet, as previously established the only sin that is said to be viable in dissolving the covenant is unfaithfulness. Since all sin is not viable, then he must be referring to a physical death. If he is referring to a physical death then, it would seem rational to infer that throughout the letter he is referring to a physical death when ever he is talking about being freed.

Romans 6:7 says, “For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (ESV) Since we have established Paul must be talking about a physical death, it must be concluded that those who have died have been freed from their sin. If they are freed from sin, then they are justified (in right standing). If they are in right standing then they are in no danger of eternal punishment. So where is the salvation offered through Christ.

It must be that all the dead are raised at Christ’s return. This is evidenced by Revelations 20:13. At this resurrection those who believed now will be “changed in the blink of an eye” and given eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:52). Those who did not believe now will be shown the ultimate Grace and Mercy by being allowed to make a choice while face to face with the Lord, Jesus.

The judgement on sin did not occur at the cross, rather it occurred in the Garden of Eden when God said “You will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). But wait! Doesn’t Revelations 20 also say that every man will be judged for what he has done? Yes it does, however, Paul’s intention in Roman’s is establish that salvation comes by belief and not works. This is clearly seen in Romans 3:28 “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Then it stands to reason that if God is judging works then it must not be for the purpose of salvation, it must be for the purpose of reward.

I have only begun to scratch the surface of this truth, yet, it is profound in even this simplistic state. My prayer is that you will study this truth and allow the spirit to reveal the deepest nature in God through it. For God’s love is so much deeper and greater than human beings have taught or even know. May God bless you in your endeavor to seek His truth. In the name above all names, which Jesus Christ, amen.