Salvation

The church is in the business of salvation - anything else is irrelevant and misleading. Liberals or modernists might try to sell Christianity 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 gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?Mark 8:36“There is only one tragedy, not to have been 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 of love 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 the intellectual 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, and Protestants salvation in a smaller sense and faith in a bigger sense. He then suggests that both sides are right - Catholics teach salvation 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 we really all agree - and that as we use the NT as our base source then this is not surprising. The NT, he suggests, shows that salvation is both free and earned (by obedience to the law) - faith is just the beginning and our justification must lead in our sanctification to an 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 has changed 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 is in 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. It becomes 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 growth not 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. Why should 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 salvationThe dilemma was simply about the most 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 the constant 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 Logos as 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 10:22Pagans know God - Acts 17:28, Rom 1:19-20, 2:11-16Therefore 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 be saved.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 the transfiguration texts.The same person - the 2nd person of the Trinity - is the preincarnate logos of Jn 1:9 who 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 enough opportunity, enough knowledge and enough free choice, to make everyone responsible before God. God is just. And a just God judges justly, not unjustly;that is he judges according to the knowledge each individual has, not according to a knowledge they do not have (James 3:1).”

The objection to the salvation of pagansConservatives often object to a 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 not in 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 all to 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 us specifically whom. So we shout the warning to all!

Kreeft says this attitude is paralleled in arguments about abortion. There are 3 positions1. The soul enters the body at conception 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 only aiming 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 possible without 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 or how many people will be saved.

He also asks liberals to consider his position - they might like or admire much in other religions, but if Christ said salvation was only through him and other religions say this is not the case, 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.