Condensed Theology

A Primer in Systematic Theology

Soteriology: The Doctrine of Salvation

What does the Bible teach about salvation?

Review
Primordial Union with Christ
Election & Predestination

Temporal Union with Christ

The Initiating Acts of God

Temporal Union with Christ

Effective Calling Regeneration Repentance Saving Faith

Initiating Acts of God

Calling Regeneration
These are the acts of God and God alone by which his predestinating purposes begin to take effect in the lives of his elect.

Initiating Act of God and Men

Repentance and faith Repentance and faith are divine-human activities. It is simultaneously something God gives and something we exercise.

Temporal Union with Christ

Saving Faith

What Saving Faith Is Not

What Saving Faith Is Not

It is not momentary John 2:23-25: Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

What Saving Faith Is Not

It is not momentary John 8:30-32: As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:59: Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

What Saving Faith Is Not

It is not momentary
Matt 13:18-23: "Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

What Saving Faith Is Not

It is not mental; That is, it is not mere intellectual assent to the facts of the gospel. Jas 2:19: You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

What Saving Faith Is Not

It is not misinformed. In order for saving faith to be saving, it must not have erroneous notions of who Jesus is. 1 John 4:2-3: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

What Saving Faith Is

What Saving Faith Is

Knowledge Assent Trust Knowledge, assent, and trust are not three steps to saving faith, Neither can they be understood as discrete categories They are the three-fold characteristics of saving faith (all are present when saving faith is present)

Saving Faith
Knowledge

Saving Faith: Knowledge

Saving faith must know the facts of the gospelthe truth about God, man, sin and Jesus Christ. Therefore if you have saving faith, you have come to know certain truths. This aspect of faith is often expressed in Scripture with the phrase believe that

Saving Faith: Knowledge

Rom 10:14, 17: How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. John 20:31: but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

Saving Faith: Knowledge

2 Thess 2:10: and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

Saving Faith
Assent

Saving Faith: Assent

Assent refers to our agreement with the knowledge we possess concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, concerning God, man, sin, and Jesus Christ. It is intellectual; That is, assent means that we acknowledge and agree with our minds that the gospel is true.

Saving Faith: Assent

Assent refers to our agreement with the knowledge we possess concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, concerning God, man, sin, and Jesus Christ. It is also emotional; That is, assent means that we acknowledge and agree with our hearts that the gospel is true.

Saving Faith: Assent

Rom 10:9: that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. John 5:46: For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?

Saving Faith: Assent

2 Thess 2:11-12: For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 1 John 4:1: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 5:10: The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.

Saving Faith
Trust

Saving Faith: Trust

Trust is saving faiths most characteristic act.1 We believe in Jesus, and believing in a person connotes trust or confidence that goes into and rests in him or her as a person. I am believing in you to rescue me.

Saving Faith: Trust

Rom 10:11, 14: For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. 14How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 1 Tim 1:16: Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

Saving Faith: Trust

Survey of the gospel of John See 1:12; 3:15-16, 18, 36; 4:39; 6:29, 35, 40; 7:5, 31, 38-39, 48; 8:30; 9:35-36; 10:42; 11:25-26, 45, 48; 12:11, 36-37, 42, 44, 46; 14:1, 12; 16:9; 17:20.

Saving Faith: Trust

What does it mean to trust a person?
Then why do you refuse to let me watch your kids, your house, your wallet, and even your dog?!

I trust you!

Saving Faith
Recap of Constituent Acts

Saving Faith: Recap

Trust: Knowledge and assent must culminate in entrustment to Jesus as a living person for salvation.

Knowledge: Saving faith must be acquainted with gospel propositions.

Assent: Saving faith agrees intellectually and emotionally with gospel propositions.

The Necessity of Faith in Christ for Salvation

The Necessity of Faith

John 8:24: [Jesus said], Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. Rom 10:9-10: that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

The Necessity of Faith

Rom 1:16-17: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. Rom 5:1: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Necessity of Faith

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The Gift of Faith

Believe but Do Not Work

The Gift of Faith

Acts 18:27: And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. Eph 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Phil 1:29: For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

The Gift of Faith

Like repentance, faith is a gift of God; And like repentance, faith is a gift of God that believers exercise. Phil 1:29: For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. 2 Thess 1:8: dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 1 Pet 4:17: For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

The Gift of Faith

Like repentance, faith is a gift of God; And like repentance, faith is a gift of God that believers exercise. Rom 1:5: through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake. Rom 16:26: but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith. Thus faith is a divine-human activity.

Two Divine-Human Initiatory Activities: Repentance and Faith

Conversion

Conversion: Repentance and Faith

Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28).

NON-CHRISTIAN

JESUS

S I N REPENTANCE + FAITH

CONVERSION

Conversion: Repentance and Faith

Conversion is a single act of turning from sin in repentance to Jesus Christ in faith.
Salvation is from sin Matt 1:21: She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Conversion: Repentance and Faith

Conversion is a single act of turning from sin in repentance to Jesus Christ in faith.
The gospel call is sometimes expressed as either a command to repent or a command to believe. Acts 16:30: and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." Acts 17:30: Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.

Conversion: Repentance and Faith

Conversion is a single act of turning from sin in repentance to Jesus Christ in faith.
Most often it is expressed as a complex command to repent and believe. Mark 1:15: and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. Acts 20:21: solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Heb 6:1: Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.