Condensed Theology Lecture 31

8/6/2019 Condensed Theology Lecture 31

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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




• Effective Calling

• Regeneration

• Repentance• Saving Faith



Initiating Acts of God

• Calling

• Regeneration

– These are the acts of God and God alone bywhich his predestinating purposes begin totake effect in the lives of his elect.



Initiating Act of God and Men

• Repentance and faith

• Repentance and faith are divine-humanactivities.

• It is simultaneously something God givesand something we exercise.




Saving Faith



What Saving Faith Is Not




• It is not momentary

• John 2:23-25: Now when He was in Jerusalemat the Passover, during the feast, many believed

in His name, observing His signs which He wasdoing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrustingHimself to them, for He knew all men, andbecause He did not need anyone to testify

concerning man, for He Himself knew what wasin man.





• John 8:30-32: As He spoke these things, manycame to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to

those Jews who had believed Him, "If youcontinue in My word, then you are truly disciplesof Mine; and you will know the truth, and thetruth will make you free."

• John 8:59: Therefore they picked up stones tothrow at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and wentout of the temple.





• Matt 13:18-23: "Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyonehears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evilone comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. The oneon whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man whohears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has nofirm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction orpersecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is theman who hears the word, and the worry of the world and thedeceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is theman who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruitand brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."




• It is not mental;

• That is, it is not mere intellectual assent tothe facts of the gospel.

• Jas 2:19: You believe that God is one.You do well; the demons also believe, andshudder.




• It is not misinformed.

• In order for saving faith to be saving, it must nothave erroneous notions of who Jesus is.

• 1 John 4:2-3: By this you know the Spirit ofGod: every spirit that confesses that JesusChrist has come in the flesh is from God; andevery spirit that does not confess Jesus is not

from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, ofwhich you have heard that it is coming, and nowit is already in the world.



What Saving Faith Is



What Saving Faith Is

• Knowledge

• Assent

• Trust

• Knowledge, assent, and trust are not three stepsto saving faith,

• Neither can they be understood as discretecategories

• They are the three-fold characteristics of savingfaith (all are present when saving faith ispresent)



Saving Faith

Knowledge



Saving Faith: Knowledge

• Saving faith must know the facts of thegospel—the truth about God, man, sin andJesus Christ.

• Therefore if you have saving faith, youhave come to know certain truths.

• This aspect of faith is often expressed inScripture with the phrase ―believe that…‖




• Rom 10:14, 17: How then will they call on Himin whom they have not believed? How will theybelieve in Him whom they have not heard? And

how will they hear without a preacher?17

Sofaith comes from hearing, and hearing by theword of Christ.

• John 20:31: …but these have been written so

that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, theSon of God; and that believing you may have lifein His name.




• 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 thisreason 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, buttook pleasure in wickedness.



Saving Faith

Assent



Saving Faith: Assent

• Assent refers to our agreement with theknowledge we possess concerning sin,righteousness, and judgment, concerning

God, man, sin, and Jesus Christ.

• It is intellectual;

• That is, assent means that weacknowledge and agree with our mindsthat the gospel is true.




• Assent refers to our agreement with theknowledge we possess concerning sin,righteousness, and judgment, concerning

God, man, sin, and Jesus Christ.

• It is also emotional;

• That is, assent means that weacknowledge and agree with our heartsthat the gospel is true.




• Rom 10:9: …that if you confess with your

mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in yourheart that God raised Him from the dead,

you will be saved.

• John 5:46: For if you believed Moses, youwould believe Me, for he wrote about Me.

But if you do not believe his writings, howwill you believe My words?




• 2 Thess 2:11-12: For this reason God will send uponthem a deluding influence so that they will believe whatis false, in order that they all may be judged who did notbelieve the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

• 1 John 4:1: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but testthe spirits to see whether they are from God, becausemany false prophets have gone out into the world.

• 1 John 5:10: The one who believes in the Son of Godhas the testimony in himself; the one who does not

believe God has made Him a liar, because he has notbelieved in the testimony that God has given concerningHis Son.



Saving Faith

Trust



Saving Faith: Trust

• Trust is saving faith’s ―most characteristic

act.‖1

• We believe in Jesus, and believing in aperson connotes trust or confidence thatgoes into and rests in him or her as aperson.

• ―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 BEDISAPPOINTED.‖ 14How then will they call onHim in whom they have not believed? How willthey 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, sothat in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ mightdemonstrate His perfect patience as an examplefor those who would believe in Him for eternallife.



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 whydo you refuse

to let me watchyour kids, yourhouse, your wallet,and even

your dog?!

I trustyou!



Saving Faith

Recap of Constituent Acts



Saving Faith: Recap

Knowledge:Saving faith

must be

acquaintedwith gospelpropositions.

Assent:Saving faith

agrees intellectuallyand emotionally

with gospelpropositions.

Trust:Knowledge and

assent must

culminate inentrustment to Jesusas a living person

for salvation.



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 youbelieve 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 heartthat God raised Him from the dead, you will besaved; for with the heart a person believes,

resulting in righteousness, and with the mouthhe confesses, resulting in salvation.




• Rom 1:16-17: For I am not ashamed of thegospel, for it is the power of God for salvation toeveryone who believes, to the Jew first and also

to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of Godis revealed from faith to faith; as it is written,―BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY

FAITH.‖

• Rom 5:1: Therefore, having been justified byfaith, we have peace with God through our LordJesus Christ.




• John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that Hegave His only begotten Son, that whoeverbelieves in Him shall not perish, but have eternal

life. For God did not send the Son into the worldto judge the world, but that the world might besaved through Him. He who believes in Him isnot judged; he who does not believe has been

judged already, because he has not believed inthe 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 acrossto Achaia, the brethren encouraged him andwrote to the disciples to welcome him; and whenhe had arrived, he greatly helped those who had

believed through grace.• Eph 2:8-9: For by grace you have been savedthrough faith; and that not of yourselves, it is thegift of God; not as a result of works, so that noone may boast.

• Phil 1:29: For to you it has been granted forChrist's sake, not only to believe in Him, but alsoto 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 Hissake.

• 2 Thess 1:8: …dealing out retribution to those who donot know God and to those who do not obey the gospelof our Lord Jesus.

• 1 Pet 4:17: For it is time for judgment to begin with thehousehold of God; and if it begins with us first, what willbe the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel ofGod?



The Gift of Faith

• Like repentance, faith is a gift of God;

• And like repentance, faith is a gift of God that believersexercise.

• Rom 1:5: …through whom we have received grace and

apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith amongall the Gentiles for His name's sake.

• Rom 16:26: …but now is manifested, and by theScriptures of the prophets, according to thecommandment of the eternal God, has been madeknown 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

CONVERSION

REPENTANCE + FAITH

S

I

N

NON-CHRISTIAN JESUS

Come to meall who areweary andheavy-ladenand I will giveyou rest (Matt 11:28).




• Conversion is a single act of turning fromsin in repentance to Jesus Christ in faith.

– Salvation is from sin

– Matt 1:21: She will bear a Son; and you shallcall His name Jesus, for He will save Hispeople from their sins.




• Conversion is a single act of turning from sin inrepentance 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, youand your household."

– Acts 17:30: Therefore having overlooked the times ofignorance, God is now declaring to men that allpeople everywhere should repent.




• Conversion is a single act of turning from sin inrepentance to Jesus Christ in faith.

– Most often it is expressed as a complex command torepent and believe.

– Mark 1:15: …and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and thekingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in thegospel.―

– 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 aboutthe Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again afoundation of repentance from dead works and of faith

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Condensed Theology Lecture 31