Welcome back to week 13. Today, and Lord willing, for the next few weeks, we will be considering some aspects of soteriology. Before we consider some aspects of soteriology, we ought to first define our term. Simply stated, soteriology means the doctrine, or study, of salvation. Soteriology comes from the Greek word sōtēria, meaning “salvation,” and “logy,” meaning the study of something.

Many times, when we talk about salvation, we hear or mention the phrase, “justification by faith alone.” What does this phrase mean? “Justification means that God declares someone righteous. Justification is God declaring someone in right standing with Himself (1 Cor. 6:11). 

God accomplishes justification by means of imputation. Imputation is the act of ascribing a defining attribute to someone. As an example; when Adam sinned, God imputed (i.e., attributed) Adam’s sin to all his descendants, thus all mankind is guilty before God (Gen. 3:17-24; Rom. 5:12-14. cf. Anthropology: #1). Therefore, man’s default and defining attribute is that of sin (cf. Rom. 3:23).

Conversely, the righteousness of Christ is imputed (i.e., attributed), all be it undeserved, to all those who believe, or have saving faith, in Him. However, there is yet another aspect of imputation which is even more so undeserved; the sin of the person who believes in Christ is actually attributed (i.e., imputed) to Christ! In this case the sacrificial Savior takes His people’s blame (Rom. 5:15-19; 1 Cor. 5:21). Clearly, by means of imputation, in both directions, justification is attributed to someone by God. However, justification does not make one righteous. Justification is God declaring a saved person righteous, this happens at the moment of their salvation. Salvation is what makes one righteous. If this is the case, how does one become saved so that he/she may be considered justified?

At this juncture is where faith enters into the picture. Scripture is clear that one is justified solely by God’s gracious gift of saving faith in His Son; Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 3:24, 27; 5:1; Gal. 2:6). This essential biblical truth is justification by faith alone. Saving faith in the finished work of Christ is the only way to receive both God’s salvation and justification (Rom. 3:24, 28; Gal. 2:20; 3:22). One’s faith, which is also a gift from God, in Christ alone justifies him or her before God (Eph. 2:8). One’s saving faith in Christ alone is a gift from God to the undeserving sinner in order to save them from God. Faith in Christ alone is the only thing that saves one from God’s judgment. Saving faith in Christ alone is a gift from God and justification is a gift from God. One cannot earn justification through meritorious works. However, one can have Christ’s meritorious works applied to him or her if they place their trust in Him alone as Lord and Savior. Once this is done one’s life will manifest good works with right motives as a result of the salvation and justification which has made him or her a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:22-24; James 2).

We hope our short time considering soteriology this week was helpful. Lord willing next week we will be considering another aspect of soteriology; sanctification. Sanctification is said to be past, present, and future. What does this mean? Until then may the Lord bless you and keep you.