Concept of Soteriology (Salvation)
Salvation is from the Greek word Soteria. Which means deliverance or preservation. Therefore, salvation is defined as the deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ. In simple words, Salvation is a source of being saved from harm, ruin, or any loss.
The concept of Salvation is very important in Christianity. As it is Christians’ fundamental belief that Jesus is the savior of the world and Jesus brings hope for forgiveness and life beyond death, for oneself, and for all the baptized. To understand Salvation, one must understand the doctrine of grace and Sin (Weaver,2015).
Sin is defined as an evil human act. From history is known that humans are born free will which means that God made all humankind independent moral agents, who can make their own decisions for their life. The concept of sin in human starts when the first human disobeyed God. That is when the human was selfish in making that decision. Humans then got to have different forms of sins such as lust, greed, pride, etc. Sin can be at a personal level as well social level. For example, if the parent and neighborhood of a child are full of crimes and sinful acts that child will be part of that situation. On a personal level, your selfish thoughts and deeds also takes you away from the love of GOD (Weaver,2015).
Jesus is known to have the power to overcome human sin and to live proper human response to GOD. He showed this act to the world by living his life as an example and sacrifice his life. Which brings us to the second term known as Grace.
In the biblical view, Grace is referred to as the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. John 1:14 tells us that God left His heavenly throne, became flesh and came to live with us here on earth. He was full of grace and truth. The Bible says that we receive blessings from the fullness of His grace (John 1:16). In Christian believes Jesus extends his unmerited friendship and forgiveness to sinful humanity by sacrificing his life. Grace is also known as been imparted internally to a person through the gift of faith, it is by faith that humans are saved. It is described in the book ‘Christian thought and practice’ that Grace is a seed planted in a person who grows and blossoms throughout life. It is the responsibility of humans to take care of the faith and practice his faith.
Therefore, Salvation is important and to save yourself from sin and love God. It is a must for Christians to understand the concept of Grace, Sin, and Salvation and to live their lives as Christ lived his life for them. As spoken at baptism that ‘I confess Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come’ (Haight, Roger ,1994). Which means that all sins are been forgiven of the person and he must live his life as taught by Jesus, in loving God and looking forward for forgiveness from worldly sins and new life after death.
References
- Haight, Roger. “Jesus and Salvation: An Essay in Interpretation.” Theological Studies, vol. 55, no. 2, June 1994, pp. 225–251
- Weaver, Natalie Kertes. Christian Thought and Practice: a Primer. Anselm Academic, 2015.
- McMahon, Christopher. “Psyche, Soul, and Salvation: The Science of the Human and Its Place in Theology.” Journal of Moral Theology, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 203–221
