Systematic Theology - Soteriology

Here is the next installment of my credo sharing project:

Soteriology

By recognizing the seriousness and depth of the presence of sin and evil in the world, we find ourselves in a predicament that we are unable to get out of on our own. If everything previously stated is true, then the issue is not how humanity can vindicate God, but “how in the face of such evil does God vindicate us” (Morse, 216). Our full reconciliation requires a doctrine of salvation that comes from God and exemplifies the continuation of God’s graceful movement towards his good purposes. Christ’s death and resurrection accomplishes that very task.

Western theologians have posited a juridical metaphor to explain God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ. This implies that there is some ransom or price that has to be paid in order for the relationship to be restored. I am more inclined towards images of wholeness and healing. It is true that the distortion of the image of God in us goes to the depths of our core. It is equally true that in a single self-sacrificial act of love, God draws near enough to eradicate that distortion and make us completely who we were made to be; made by God, for God, and for others. Therefore, salvation is our restoration to the capacity towards living out of love. This understanding recognizes how deeply sin has marred us by understanding that the only one that can bridge the chasm between us and God is God himself. Just as Christ heals the leper, Christ heals us. It is a total healing that happens on physical, spiritual, emotional, and relational levels (Matt. 8:1-4).

There is nothing lacking in this gift of salvation in Christ Jesus. There is no need for such an act to ever occur again. This saving act was complete in its power and its saving. Our communion liturgy reminds us that Christ has “delivered us from slavery to sin and death,” (UMH, 13) and Paul’s writings also remind us that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:31-39). Taking these two statements together, along with other evidence within our canonical heritage, sin and death are no longer threats; they have been overcome. Christ’s victory was and is sufficient. As such, if we are truly living in light of these salvific acts and are living lives that lay claim to them through our faith in Christ, then we are equally justified and sanctified. In justification, we are accounted as loved by God because of what God has done in Christ, not by anything that we have done on our own. Juridically, our sins are forgiven and we are found righteous because of Christ’s righteousness. In a healing sense, salvation is the removal of that which has distorted us (the toxicity of sin, you might say). It is an immediate reorientation of the love within us that had been distorted. Sanctification, understood as an ongoing process of growing in holiness, is that sacred space where our continued healing occurs and all that is within us is reoriented to our original purposes. Some suggest that this can only be fully accomplished after death, but if the aforementioned act was so powerful that death and sin is already overcome then there is no reason why we cannot live without sin, in perfect love of God and one another, completely healed. To suggest anything less might be viewed as a cop out for those who desire to remain somewhat distorted in their loving. Because not everyone will devote themselves so fully to this gift of grace, “sin is acknowledged to remain, although no longer to reign” (Morse, 244).

A final comment is in order here relating to soteriology and the future. It should be noted that “the finished origin and providential continuance of covenant existence are seen in the gospel message to involve an expectancy that still awaits realization” (Morse, 220). More simply, some fullness of the salvific act remains for the future. Just as sin affected creation (not just humanity), so does salvation. While we are capable by grace to have a proper love of God and others in this life, those two relationships only comprise part of our relationships. The third relationship we were created to be in was with creation, and as such, that relationship must also be righted. This will happen at the time that Christ returns and will be addressed in greater detail in the section on eschatology.