Post on 06-Apr-2018
8/2/2019 Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation
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Salvation
8/2/2019 Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation
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The church is in the business of
salvation - anything else is
irrelevant and misleading. Liberals
or modernists might try to sellChristianity on the basis of social
activity but for us the bottom line
has to be salvation through faith in
Christ.
Remember that Jesus never had
any intention of being a doctor or
philosopher.The ultimate meaning for your life
is found in salvation - that is
where God intends your life to go,
your goal.
8/2/2019 Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation
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8/2/2019 Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation
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For what does it
profit a man to gainthe whole world and
forfeit his soul?
Mark 8:36“There is only one
tragedy, not to havebeen a saint.”
Leon Bloy
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Faith and works
The issue of salvation sparked the
Reformation and split the church
in two: Protestant and Catholics.
Both churches taught salvation
but appeared to present two very
different gospels describing how
to get saved.Faith and salvation are used by
both sides but, according to
Kreeft, in differing ways:
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1. Catholics say salvation is the
whole process of beginning a life
of faith journeying through a life oflove to completion in heaven.
Protestants would say salvation is
the initial step, like getting into
Noah’s ark.
2. Catholics use faith to describe
one of the three virtues (faith,
hope and love) - and faith is theintellectual belief. Protestants
would say faith is accepting Christ
with all your heart and soul.
8/2/2019 Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation
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Kreeft suggests that Catholics are
using salvation in a bigger sense
and faith in a smaller sense, andProtestants salvation in a smaller
sense and faith in a bigger sense.
He then suggests that both sides
are right - Catholics teachsalvation is more than faith, just as
a plant needs more than just roots
- it has a stem of hope and fruits
of love, (faith is the root).Protestants taught you cannot buy
salvation, all you need to do is
accept the Saviour.
8/2/2019 Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation
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Kreeft goes on to suggest wereally all agree - and that as we
use the NT as our base source
then this is not surprising. The NT,
he suggests, shows that salvationis both free and earned (by
obedience to the law) - faith is just
the beginning and our justification
must lead in our sanctification toan expression in terms of works.
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Sincerity not sufficient
Why does God require faith in
Jesus for salvation - why isn’t
it just about being sincere in
your heart?In no other religion is being
sincere alone enough - being
sincere is good but not enough.
Being sincere does not save you
from accidents or death or
cancer, why should it save you
from hell?
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Historically people believed
that religion was about
objective truth - this haschanged in the last few
hundred years and modern
people do not accept that
premise. Religion is viewed in
1 of 4 ways by modern people:
1. Religion is subjective - it is
something we are in not that isin us. Modern religion tends to
be less about God and more
about religious practice.
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2. Religion is seen as practical
not theoretical, good rather
than true, a pattern for living
not a map of reality. Itbecomes practical and
relativistic - if it works for you
use it!
3. Religion is made by us - not
by God. It is our road to see
god - not his road to see us.
4. Religion is about self growthnot self death- we add it to our
lives. Modern people tend not
to believe in sin - and so see
no need for it to be dealt with.
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Can non-christians be
saved?
This question presents a dilemma:
No - then all non-Christians go to
hell, even the “good” people. Whyshould they suffer if they never met a
missionary or lived before Jesus? It
is not at all kind and loving of God to
send so many people to hell!If yes - then why get “saved”? Why
do we have the narrow way of
Jesus?
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Objective salvation versus
subjective knowledge of
salvation
The dilemma was simply about themost important question - which is
a technical theological one - “What
must I do to be saved?”
Kreeft suggests that the NT gives a
clear uncompromising answer to
the objective question - but not to
the subjective one.Objectively : Jn 14:6 - Jesus is the
only way - he said so and we
believe it. If Jesus is not saviour -
he is liar, egotistical fool etc.
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Subjectively - what do we need
to do to be saved? We need to
have faith in Jesus, but what
kind of faith? Jesus is theconstant but the people who
have faith in him differ widely.
Could Socrates have had faith
in Christ? How could he have
known Christ? Kreeft says that
Jn 1:9 suggests he could have
known the preincarnate Logosas everyone could,
The true light that gives light to
everyone was coming into the
world.
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No one can know God except
through Christ - Jn 1:18, Lk
10:22
Pagans know God - Acts 17:28,Rom 1:19-20, 2:11-16
Therefore pagans know Christ.
For he is the 2nd person of the
Trinity, Col 1:15, 19 Jn 14:9.
This doctrine of Christ’s divinity
is, according to Kreeft, the
possibility for pagans to besaved.
He goes on, “explicit knowledge
of the incarnate Jesus is not
necessary for salvation”
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Abraham, Moses and Elijah
had no such knowledge but
still were saved - look at thetransfiguration texts.
The same person - the 2nd
person of the Trinity - is the
preincarnate logos of Jn 1:9who enlightens everyone,
and the incarnate Jesus who
was seen only by some.
Those who know either one knew the other too,
because both are the same
person.
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So Kreeft suggests that,
“any pagan could seek God, could repent of
his sins, and could obscurely believe in and accept the God he knew partially and
obscurely, and therefor could be saved - or
damed if he refused to seek, repent and
believe. There is enough light and enoughopportunity, enough knowledge and enough
free choice, to make everyone responsible
before God. God is just. And a just God judges
ustly, not unjustly;that is he judges accordingto the knowledge each individual has, not
according to a knowledge they do not have
(James 3:1).”
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The objection to the
salvation of pagans
Conservatives often object toa position like this which says
pagans can be saved - it
removes any motivation for
mission. Why risk your life
when people can be saved
without knowledge that you try
to give them?Kreeft suggests 3 reasons for
telling others the good news of
Jesus.
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1. We know the world is going to
hell unless they accept Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Saviour(Kreeft says this is a typical
fundamentalist position)
2. We just want to love our
neighbour and share whatever
we have with them - we don’t
believe in hell (maybe only Hitler
and Stalin are there), we’re notin the salvation business but as
a social service (modernist
approach)
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3. We do not know who is on
the way to hell - so we risk allto save some (traditionalist
response). We might shout a
warning to all people in danger
without knowing which, if any,
will face the problems. Anyone
might go to hell as Jesus said
this - but Jesus didn’t tell usspecifically whom. So we
shout the warning to all!
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Kreeft says this attitude is paralleled in
arguments about abortion. There are 3
positions
1. The soul enters the body atconception making the fetus a person
- so abortion is murder.
2. Some know that reason 1 is not true
- and therefore abortion is not murder.
3. Some say they do not know when
the soul enters the body and
personhood starts.The 3rd reason is a good one for being
prolife - if you don’t know it is better to
err on the safe side - who wants to
knowingly commit murder?
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Furthermore within preaching
the gospel we are not onlyaiming to depopulate hell
and populate heaven - but
also it is an invitation for
people to go deeper in their
spiritual life - to know Christ
more deeply, with greater
intimacy. This is not possiblewithout explicit knowledge of
Christ.
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postscript
Kreeft is keen to ensure
that fundamentalists / evangelicals do not
misunderstand his
position - which is that
they do not know who orhow many people will be
saved.
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He also asks liberals to
consider his position - they
might like or admire muchin other religions, but if
Christ said salvation was
only through him and other
religions say this is not thecase, then the other
religion is wrong. From that
position we must then tell
the nonChristian the truth,out of a motivation of love
for them and love for the
truth.