A Case for (My) Soteriology: Part 1: Salvation by Revelation or a Messenger

If you don't know what the word soteriology means, it means the study of salvation. Some Christians are Calvinists, some are Arminians, some are Provisionists, some are Catholic, some are Orthodox, etc, etc. Here I would like to lay out my own soteriology that I came to based on some reflection of reading the Bible for myself.

In short, you can think of my Soteriology as Arminianism superimposed onto Calvinism. So basically, I believe that Christ died for everyone and some people He chose specifically for His own purposes. I think the most obvious example of the latter is the conversion of Apostle Paul.

Moving on to the Biblical argument. Feel free to comment or share where you agree or disagree with me. I will admit I take somewhat of a novel approach to interpreting some scripture here, but I believe everything I am saying can be deduced from scripture.

Let's start with the book of Ephesians.

In Ephesians 1:3-12 the pronouns that Paul uses are "we" and "us". Now, the natural question with this is, "who is the we and us?" I believe Paul himself answers that exact question when he says,

Ephesians 2:19–20 CSB17

“So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”

Paul is telling us the "we" and "us" is the "apostles and prophets," So it appears that it works like a hierarchy to some degree. Christ is the cornerstone, then comes the apostles, and prophets. Where does that leave us?

Well Ephesians 1:13 and 2:22, it has the same phrase used for who the Apostle Paul is speaking - "In Him you also." Alright so why does that matter? Read here,

Ephesians 1:13 CSB17

“In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.”

Does that sound familiar? It does to me. We read elsewhere,

Romans 10:14 CSB17

“How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?”

Ah, so one must hear in order to believe. But is that the only way people come to faith? I don't believe so. For it is written just after,

Romans 10:17 CSB17

“So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.”

Someone has to know about Christ firsthand before they can go and preach to others so they can hear so they can be saved. So then, some people are chosen, "before the foundation of the world," (Ephesians 1:4), and some people are chosen by God post hoc based on the preaching of these chosen apostles and prophets. Make sense? One more example and I encourage you to search the scriptures to see if what I am saying matches what you read.

In 1 John 1:1-10 it again, the same thing as before in Ephesians, says, "we" and "us", stated as,

1 John 1:1 CSB17

“have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life”

Then we come across this verse,

1 John 2:2 CSB17

“He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.”

Now, the question is, where does Apostle John change the "we" and "us" from being the people who, "have heard... have seen with our eyes... have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life" (1 John 1:1) to something else for 1 John 2:2? I believe the answer is found in 1 John 2:1 where it says,

1 John 2:2 CSB17

"My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin."

Ah, so John is writing these things to others--a separate group from those who saw Christ with their eyes.

So what does it mean that Christ was the atoning sacrifice for, "the whole world,"? Now, Calvinists will say it doesn't need to mean "only the elect" even though that is the only thing that would make sense given their view. They will try and tell you 1 John was speaking to Jews, but John is speaking to the church in Ephesus, which has a mix of Jews and Gentiles. So the idea that the "whole world" is speaking of not only Jews but includes Gentiles as well isn't something you can deduce from the text of the letter. I say this because there is nothing that says an apostle or prophet must be Jewish, which leaves open the possibility that John mentions in 1 John 1:1-10 could very well include Gentiles.

So we have two different kinds of people who are elect:

1) Those who have witnessed Christ or some other direct revelation from God OR,

2) Those who receive the message of the Gospel from human messengers.

And I think it should be clear that the vast majority of people fall into the latter than the former. But that doesn't mean the former doesn't happen today. Actually, there are so many examples of this happening today that it's really quite a marvel. Many Muslims are coming to faith based on dreams and visions of Christ Himself! In fact, even though the Gospel was preached to him prior to the event, Eric Metaxas actually got saved in a dream. If Christ can still do that, then category 1 of people still exists today.

And that's some evidence for my soteriology. I encourage you to try and prove it wrong.

God bless you! Until next time!