Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation

8/2/2019 Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation

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Salvation



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.



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



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:



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.



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.



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.



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?



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.



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.



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?



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.



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.



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”



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.



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).”



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.



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)



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!



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?



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.



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.



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.

Apologetics, Kreeft chapter 13: Salvation

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