Differing views of salvation - Essay Example

Differing views of salvation Differing views of salvation Biblically and historically, justification through faith in Christ has been the center of the Christian Gospel. Both the nature of justification and condition of faith are challenged. If evangelical Christianity is to remain distinct from all other religions and aberrations, then defense of the Faith must begin with defense of faith as the only condition of justification. However, there are contradicting views that warrant faith alone as the condition for salvation. John’s Gospel is distinguished from the Synoptic Gospels by its unique selection of material not found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Materials presented are a doctrinal reflection different from more historical approaches from synoptic accounts. These unique features should give extra weight to what John says about salvation and how it is obtained. However, John’s own statement of purpose declared in (John 20:30-32) that, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written but for the ones that are written they should believe so that they should have a life in His name. Clearly, believing in Jesus is the source of salvation. This aspect of belief is not only that but also believing certain facts about Jesus. John portrays Jesus as the Messiah who is the Son of God. The emphasis on soteriology in Revelation has mainly to do with perseverance. Christ is introduced as the one who died and was raised again. Christ is also the Lamb slain who calls the thirsty to drink of the water of life. This is shown in His anticipated second coming when He is expected to judge the world. As in (Revelation 1:7.). John’s book of revelation is unique because of its apocalyptic nature. In his book, he fosters a sense of crisis, proclamations and impending traumas, which reveals a sense of world-ending catastrophes, which are unimaginable. However, his visions are just to clarify the importance of the churches for God’s purposes in the world and push them to ensure the fulfillment of the purposes. The vision of a slain lamb (Revelation 5) standing victorious underscores that the congregations are supposed to walk faithfully with the one with the definitive triumph. Their suffering can only be saved by the one sitting on the throne because He has power that creates, sustains and also brings fulfillment. John talks about the beast, and their allies that conquer with retributive violence, force, deception and domination. It seems like an overwhelming situation that nobody can stand against, but those who follow the lamb wherever He goes come out conquerors (Revelation 14:4). These worship visions also remind believers that despite overwhelming plagues, they can overcome them because the God of Jesus remains the true God and the one worthy of their trust. John’s intention nevertheless, portrays God’s expectation of His people as being rigorous and demanding because it requires people to emulate whatever it is the lamb wants and to turn away from all sorts of idolatry or evils for the purpose of salvation. In this book of Revelation, the lamb is the controlling factor and who ultimately moves history towards salvation. In the Pauline letter to the Romans, Jesus is seen as the son of God. Generally, salvation is a form of justification of an individual through faith and good deeds and sacrifice in order to receive a better life after death or be on the right side of God’s laws. According to the book of Romans, Paul bases a discussion in chapter1-3, which begins and ends with an affirmation that justice and salvation go together and their meaning has been revealed to humanity through life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In (Romans 1:16-17), Paul points out that anybody who is faithful receives salvation and that the one who is just lives by faithfulness. He concludes his argument with a sense of resolution that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God but they are now made whole by His grace as a gift through redemption in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:21-22) This kind of redemption comes with righteousness from God for those who believe and have faith in Christ. Paul further gives an account of the principle that is upheld in this book of Romans of justice because the law judges all equally despite race, ethnicity or origin. The main obstacle to salvation that Paul describes in this book is idolatry where people give ultimate loyalty to entities other than God. He further cites that there is the idolatry of nations and that of people, and from this idolatry, an unjust world is born. This worldly activities like exchange of God’s glory for images, shameless acts and refusal to give thanks to God (Romans 1:18-25) show a form of world that has turned against God. Through salvation and faith in Jesus, all obstacles can be overcome; moreover, people need a breakthrough by not suppressing the truth about what Jesus teaches, with violence and injustices they tend to believe is the right path to follow. God’s justice is His initiative to liberate human beings from the bondage and powers of sin. In conclusion, mankind was given responsibility over the creation as from the Genesis stories and all they were expected to do was to follow God’s laws and govern the earth in a godly manner which ended up not being the case. The disobedience in the Garden of Eden led to punishment from God. This therefore shows that the original sin of disobedience is the main obstacle to salvation to salvation as seen in the three books discussed above. Nevertheless, no matter how widespread the use of punitive responses to wrongdoing and the basis of such responses in beliefs about God, the reality is that all these are just human beliefs. Hence, all such beliefs (Grimsrud, 2009) are finite and relative and therefore should be revised. If salvation stems from a Holy and pure God being governed by the need to destroy sin and impurity unless God’s righteous anger is dealt with, then the logic of retribution may be validated. References Grimsrud, T. (2009) Salvation in Romans and Revelation. London. 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