Soteriology

The doctrine of salvation begins with understanding why salvation is necessary. In Adam, all humanity fell from original righteousness into sin and misery. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. The fall was not merely a bad example but a federal headship—Adam represented all his posterity, and when he sinned, we sinned in him. The result is total depravity: not that humans are as bad as possible, but that every faculty—mind, will, emotions, body—is corrupted by sin. We are by nature children of wrath, dead in trespasses and sins, unable to save ourselves or even desire salvation apart from grace.

Total depravity describes the extent of sin's corruption in human nature. It does not mean that humans are utterly depraved in every act, but that sin has affected every part of our being. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The mind is hostile to God, unable to submit to His law. The will is enslaved to sin—we are free to choose, but our choices are limited by our sinful nature. No one seeks God; no one does good. This condition is universal and inescapable apart from sovereign grace. Understanding depravity is essential because those who think themselves well have no need of a physician.

Scripture describes the unregenerate state as spiritual death—not merely sickness or weakness, but death. The dead cannot respond, cannot feel, cannot act. This is our condition apart from Christ: dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from the life of God, having no hope and without God in the world. We were children of wrath, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind. This death is not annihilation but separation from God, the source of all life and blessing. Only the voice of the Son of God can call the spiritually dead to life, just as He called Lazarus from the tomb. Regeneration is resurrection—the giving of new life to those who were dead.

Before time began, God the Father, in His sovereign grace, chose a people for Himself. This election was not based on foreseen faith or merit but on His own purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. He predestinated us unto adoption as children according to the good pleasure of His will. Election is the fountain of all saving benefits—calling, justification, sanctification, glorification all flow from this eternal decree. This doctrine humbles human pride (we contributed nothing to our salvation), magnifies divine grace (salvation is wholly of the Lord), and provides unshakable assurance (whom He predestinated, He also glorified—past tense certainty).

At the cross, Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation of His people by offering Himself as a substitute, bearing the penalty they deserved. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. This is penal substitutionary atonement: Christ bore the penalty (penal) in our place (substitutionary). His sacrifice propitiated God's wrath, redeemed us from sin's slavery, and reconciled us to God. He ransomed us not with silver and gold but with His precious blood. The cross is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation.

When Christ cried 'It is finished,' He declared the completion of redemption. His work on the cross was not a potential salvation waiting for human acceptance but an actual redemption that accomplished its purpose. He obtained eternal redemption—not temporary or conditional, but eternal and complete. By one offering He perfected forever those who are sanctified. Nothing can be added to His finished work; nothing needs to be repeated. The sacrifice was offered once for all. Christ sat down at God's right hand because His priestly work of atonement was complete. We rest in a finished redemption, not in ongoing efforts to secure what Christ has already accomplished.

Effectual calling is the Holy Spirit's work of drawing sinners to Christ through the gospel. While the general call goes out to all who hear the gospel, the effectual call actually accomplishes its purpose—it brings the spiritually dead to life. God calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light. This call is irresistible not in the sense of coercion but of transformation: God changes the heart so that we willingly and joyfully come to Christ. Whom He predestinated, He called. The called ones are those who perceive Christ as the power and wisdom of God. This calling is according to His purpose, not our merit.

Regeneration is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit by which a spiritually dead sinner is made alive. It is being born again, born from above, born of the Spirit. This new birth is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Regeneration precedes faith—we must be made alive before we can believe, just as Lazarus had to be made alive before he could respond to Christ's call. The wind blows where it wishes—regeneration is a sovereign act of God. In regeneration, God removes the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh, writing His law on our hearts and causing us to walk in His statutes.

Faith and repentance are the twin graces by which we respond to the gospel. They are inseparable—there is no true faith without repentance, no genuine repentance without faith. Faith is not merely intellectual assent but wholehearted trust in Christ alone for salvation. It is the empty hand that receives the gift of righteousness. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of life—turning from sin to God. Both faith and repentance are gifts of God, not human achievements. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. God grants repentance unto life. These graces flow from regeneration—the new heart believes and repents.

Justification is God's legal declaration that sinners are righteous in His sight. It is not making us righteous but declaring us righteous on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed to us. This is the great exchange: our sins were imputed to Christ on the cross; His righteousness is imputed to us through faith. Justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We contribute nothing but the sin that made it necessary. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Justification is complete and irreversible—there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The justified cannot be unjustified; the verdict stands forever.

Adoption is the act of grace by which God receives us into the number and privileges of His children. We were by nature children of wrath, but through Christ we become children of God with all the rights and privileges of sons. We receive the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry 'Abba, Father.' Adoption means we are no longer strangers and foreigners but members of God's household. We are fellow heirs with Christ—if children, then heirs. The Father loves us as He loves His only-begotten Son. Adoption secures not only our present standing but our future inheritance—an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading.

Sanctification is the ongoing work of God by which He makes us actually holy in heart and life. While justification is a legal declaration made once for all, sanctification is a process that continues throughout our earthly lives. It is God's work in us—He works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. Yet we are also called to work out our salvation, to put off the old man and put on the new, to mortify the deeds of the body. Sanctification involves both dying to sin and living to righteousness. We are being transformed into Christ's image from glory to glory. This process will be completed only at glorification.

Those whom God effectually calls and justifies He also preserves to the end. True believers cannot finally and totally fall away from grace but will certainly persevere to salvation. This perseverance is not due to our own strength but to God's faithfulness. He who began a good work will complete it. We are kept by the power of God through faith. Christ loses none of those the Father gives Him. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Our perseverance is grounded in God's electing purpose, Christ's intercession, and the Spirit's indwelling. The saints persevere because God preserves.

Glorification is the final step in salvation's golden chain—whom He justified, them He also glorified. It is the completion of our redemption when, at Christ's return or our death, we are made perfectly holy in body and soul. We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Our lowly bodies will be transformed to be like His glorious body. Mortality will put on immortality; corruption will put on incorruption. Death, the last enemy, will be swallowed up in victory. Glorification is the resurrection hope—we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. What we shall be has not yet appeared, but it will be glorious beyond imagination.

Eternal life is not merely endless existence but the quality of life belonging to the age to come—knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. This life is a present possession (he that believes has eternal life) and a future hope (in the world to come, life everlasting). It is abundant life, overflowing life, the water of life springing up into everlasting life. This life is in Christ—he who has the Son has life. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This life can never be lost, for it is eternal by nature. It is the consummation of salvation—to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.