Soteriology

The death of Christ goes right to the core of what Christians believe.  But what does the death of Christ actually do?  Many people probably cannot explain what exactly the death of Christ does for the saints.  Soteriology answers that question by expounding on several facets in order to get a complete description.

The first question is who did Christ die for?  The answer is the elect.  Election can be defined as “that eternal act of God whereby He, in His sovereign good pleasure, and because of no foreseen merit in them, chooses a certain number of men to be recipients of special grace and of eternal salvation” (Enns 340).  Election is nothing caused and/or controlled by man (2 Tim. 1:9; Rom. 9:11), it was set before the foundation of the earth (Eph. 1:4), it reflects God’s sovereign will (Rom. 9:11; 2 Tim 1:9), and reflects His justice (Rom. 9:14, 20).  Because of election, the believer can be redeemed.  Redemption comes from the Greek word agorazo which means to buy in the marketplace.  This word frequently must deal with slaves being bought in a marketplace.  The idea behind redemption is that Jesus’ death buys the Christian from sin (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23; Rev. 5:9; 14:3, 4).  Ironically, the Christian is now property of Christ and are now slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:18).  In addition, the Christian now has propitiation.  This means that the demands of God, which are perfect, for the sinner are satisfied in Christ’s death.  God’s holiness prevents Him for overlooking sin.  Jesus has made propitiation for our sins (Heb. 2:17; Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10).  Christians should no longer live in sin because they have died to it (Rom. 6:2).  Because they are baptized, they are also baptized in Christ’s death and resurrection and therefore have a new life (Rom. 6:3-4).  The old self died with Him so that sin may no longer have power, but freedom (Rom. 6:6-7).  The believers have been raised with Christ, so death no longer has power over them (Rom. 6:8-9).  With all this being done, they should not sin (Rom. 6:11-13) but rather, they should offer themselves to God because of grace (Rom. 6:13-14).  Now they are set free from sin and now are slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:18).  Who is redeemed?  Who is atoned?  The atonement of Christ is powerful enough the redeem all of mankind (John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:14-15), but Scripture is very clear that Jesus died for a certain group of people.  Jesus said a shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:15).  Christ gave His life for the church (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25).  Jesus died for the elect (Rom. 8:32-33).  And for the elect, God has provided cleansing through the cross.  In 1 John chapter one, John states that the eternal God has come down to Earth and has had communion with man (1 John 1:1-4).  God is light and has no darkness; therefore,Christians should walk in the light (1 John 1:5-7).  Everyone has sinned and still sins.  If someone claims they have no sin, they are lying (1 John 1:8-10).  But when a believer does sin, Christ acts as our advocate (1 John 2:1).  And since Christians should walk in the light, they should love each other (1 John 2:3-11).  John encourages his audience by complementing them on what they have done, and they should keep on doing it (1 John 2:12-14).  Christians should love God instead of the world; God is not in the things of this world and it will pass away, but God is forever (1 John 2:15-17).  There are many who left the faith because they were not really a part of it (1 John 2:18-19).  But the true believers have an anointing from the Holy Spirit and know the truth (1 John 2:20-21).