What does the Bible say about salvation? In this final post on the topic of Salvation within Christianity I take a look at the language and imagery that the Bible uses to describe how God saves us.
Views of the Atonement I am using the term “view” intentionally here. The Atonement, I think, is best described as a mosaic; there are several different things stitched together to form one complete image. By themselves they don’t make much sense, but taken together they form a single image.
What is salvation? Salvation is perhaps best thought of as the goal of Christianity. It has suffered, I think, in recent times from being boiled down to a one time decision or moment when it is fact a process that a Christian works out over the course of their entire life.
Heresy is often the main driving force behind the doctrinal formulations and articulations in the early church. It was heresy that prompted the first two Ecumenical Councils and it would be heresy that would prompt the next 3 Ecumenical Councils.
The Bible is the most important book in Christianity and perhaps also the most misunderstood. It has had some of its passages ripped out of context and used as justification for all sorts of abuses and atrocities. Slavery, racism, misogyny, various political causes, etc. have been attempted to be justified on the basis of various Bible passages. In fact, I’m willing to bet that with enough creativity you can find a Biblical justification for almost anything that you want to do. So there is a lot of clarification that needs to be done in regards to what Christians believe about the Bible, even among Christians.
In the previous post I mentioned that I believe we sometimes engage in various activities in an attempt to build ourselves some insulation from our fear of God and avoid having to recognize some uncomfortable truths (like our own mortality). However, I believe that we can also build this insulation in a response to trauma.
I think we are all afraid of God. Whether we are the most devout Christian on the planet, or the most hardened atheist, I think we are all afraid of God. The difference I think is in to what extent we have gone to insulate ourselves from our fear.
In part 1 We set out the basics concerning the Trinity, namely how the doctrine is articulated. In part 2 we are going to delve into the details of how this doctrine came to be articulated as such.
When we try to describe the Trinity we have set before ourselves a difficult task because attempting to describe the transcendent using human language is a bit of an impossible task. One theologian has likened it as an attempt to pour the ocean into a cup.
In the previous post I discussed the overall concept of revelation and why it is important to Christian theology. In this post I will move into some specifics about revelation in an attempt to move the topic from the abstract to the concrete.
