What is the true gospel?
The true gospel is the good news that God saves sinners. Man is by nature sinful and separated from God with no hope of remedying that situation. But God, by His power, provided the means of man’s redemption in the death, burial and resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ. The word “gospel” literally means “good…
How are predestination and election connected with foreknowledge?
Certainly, since God knows everything, it would have been possible for God to base His predestination and election of individuals upon His foreknowledge of the future. In fact, that is the exact position that many Christians believe, as it is the Arminian view of predestination. The problem is that it really is not what the…
What is the Christian doctrine of salvation?
Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. To save is to deliver or protect. The word carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation. Sometimes, the Bible uses the words saved or salvation to refer to temporal, physical deliverance, such as Paul’s deliverance from prison (Philippians 1:19). More often, the word salvation concerns an eternal,…
Why is solo Christo important?
Solo Christo, or solus Christus, is one of the five solas (or solae) that have come to summarize the key issues of the Protestant Reformation. Solo Christo means “Christ alone” in Latin. The other four solas are sola scriptura (“Scripture alone”), sola fide (“faith alone”), sola gratia (“grace alone”), and sola Deo gloria (“for the…
What is the substitutionary atonement?
The substitutionary atonement refers to Jesus Christ dying as a substitute for sinners. The Scriptures teach that all men are sinners (Romans 3:9-18, 23). The penalty for our sinfulness is death. Romans 6:23 reads, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That…
What is the effectual calling/call?
The term effectual call, as related to salvation, comes from Chapter X of the 1647 Westminster Confession of Faith. The effectual call is understood as God’s sovereign drawing of a sinner to salvation. The effectual call to a sinner so overwhelms his natural inclination to rebel that he willingly places faith in Jesus Christ. The…
What is more important, the death of Christ or His resurrection?
The death and resurrection of Christ are equally important. Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplish separate but necessarily related things. The death and resurrection of our Lord are really inseparable, like the warp and weft of cloth. The cross of Christ won for us the victory that we could never have won for ourselves. “Having disarmed…
What is Soteriology?
Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of salvation. Soteriology discusses how Christ’s death secures the salvation of those who believe. It helps us to understand the doctrines of redemption, justification, sanctification, propitiation, and the substitutionary atonement. Some common questions in studying Soteriology are: Once saved always saved? Perhaps the most heart-wrenching fear some believers…
How do God’s sovereignty and humanity’s free will work together in salvation?
It is impossible for us to fully understand the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will and responsibility. Only God truly knows how they work together in His plan of salvation. With this doctrine, probably more so than with any other, it is crucially important to admit our inability to fully grasp the nature…
What is the classic, dramatic, or ransom theory of the atonement?
Throughout Christian history, scholars have tried to precisely define the work that provides salvation that Jesus performed on the cross. Their ideas are called theories of atonement. For the first 1,000 years, the predominant view was a theory known in turn as “classic,” “dramatic,” or “ransom.” The ransom theory of atonement is closely related to…