Salvation in Christianity

Early Christians regarded themselves as partaking in a new covenant with God, open to both Jews and Gentiles, through the sacrificial death and subsequent exaltation of Jesus Christ.

According to the classical definition of Augustine of Hippo, sin is "a word, deed, or desire in opposition to the eternal law of God".

[15][16] In Christian theology, justification is God's act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin while at the same time making a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice.

[17] Broadly speaking, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christians distinguish between initial justification, which in their view ordinarily occurs at baptism; and final salvation, accomplished after a lifetime of striving to do God's will (theosis or divinization).

Catholics believe faith which is active in charity and good works (fides caritate formata) can justify, or remove the burden of guilt in sin, from man.

[8] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.In the Jerusalem ekklēsia, from which Paul received this creed, the phrase "died for our sins" probably was an apologetic rationale for the death of Jesus as being part of God's plan and purpose, as evidenced in the scriptures.

[61] Revelations, including those visions, but also inspired and spontaneous utterances, and "charismatic exegesis" of the Jewish scriptures, convinced them that this devotion was commanded by God.

[73][i] According to Burton Mack, 'Dying for our sins' refers to the problem of Gentile Torah-observers, who, despite their faithfulness, cannot fully observe commandments, including circumcision, and are therefore 'sinners', excluded from God's covenant.

[114] During the 18th century, versions of the moral influence view found overwhelming support among German theologians, most notably the Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant.

[web 21] Reformed theologian J. I. Packer, for example, although he maintains that "penal substitution is the mainstream, historic view of the church and the essential meaning of the Atonement...

[123] For example: According to Eastern Christian theology, based upon their understanding of the atonement as put forward by Irenaeus recapitulation theory, Jesus' death is a ransom.

In contrast to Western branches of theology, Eastern Orthodox Christians tend to use the word "expiation" with regard to what is accomplished in the sacrificial act.

The Biblical Greek word which is translated both as "propitiation" and as "expiation" is hilasmos (I John 2:2, 4:10), which means "to make acceptable and enable one to draw close to God".

Thus the Orthodox emphasis would be that Christ died, not to appease an angry and vindictive Father or to avert the wrath of God upon sinners, but to defeat and secure the destruction of sin and death, so that those who are fallen and in spiritual bondage may become divinely transfigured, and therefore fully human, as their Creator intended; that is to say, human creatures become God in his energies or operations but not in his essence or identity, conforming to the image of Christ and reacquiring the divine likeness (see theosis).

[133][134] The Orthodox Church further teaches that a person abides in Christ and makes his salvation sure not only by works of love, but also by his patient suffering of various griefs, illnesses, misfortunes and failures.

[143] The council stated that Jesus merited the grace of justification, which is not only the remission of sin but the infusion of the virtues of faith, hope, and charity into the Christian.

[145] The moral transformation of the Christian is not the result of merely following Christ's example and teachings, but a supernatural gift merited by the sacrifice of Jesus, for "by one man's obedience many will be made righteous".

[146] The practical manner of salvation is expounded on by St. Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church: "... to gain Heaven, it is necessary to walk in the straight road that leads to eternal bliss.

[159] Nonetheless, baptism grants a foretaste of eternal life, which is the beginning of deification and a pledge of the Universe's future salvation, via sanctifying grace.

[161] While the deified soul in heaven experiences the beatific vision with its whole self (personality, imagination, intellect, will, conscience, reason, virtue, self-image, relationship with others, etc.

),[162] the deified body will also experience the beatific vision with its whole self (all five senses, life, activity, presence, movement, appearance, talents, attire, needs, etc.

[163] As part of its deification, the deified body will be like Jesus' own deified resurrected body, which means being endowed with impassibility (immunity to evil, including temptation, sin, demons, inconvenience, error, boredom, fear, suffering, and death), subtility (freedom from the restraint of spacetime, meaning the saint can shapeshift, time travel, control nature, teleport, and have superhuman senses and prowess), agility (obedience to the soul, just as the soul is obedient to God), and clarity (resplendent beauty and the five crowns).

Broadly speaking, Protestants hold to the five solae of the Reformation, which declare that salvation is attained by grace alone in Christ alone through faith alone for the Glory of God alone as told in Scripture alone.

In Lutheranism, it is a message relevant to people of all races and social levels, of all times and places, for "the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men" (Romans 5:18).

All need forgiveness of sins before God, and Scripture proclaims that all have been justified, for "the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men" (Romans 5:18).

However, the fifth article did not completely deny the perseverance of the saints; Arminius said that "I never taught that a true believer can… fall away from the faith… yet I will not conceal, that there are passages of Scripture which seem to me to wear this aspect; and those answers to them which I have been permitted to see, are not of such a kind as to approve themselves on all points to my understanding.

They believe people use their free will to receive imputed righteousness and eternal life in Heaven, simply by Grace through faith alone on The Lord Jesus Christ.

[223] Beginning in the 1960s, many preachers began placing more emphasis on the role of grace in salvation, instead of focusing exclusively implementing all of the New Testament commands and examples.

[230][231][232][web 38] Witnesses believe that the sentence of death given to Adam and subsequently his offspring by God required an equal substitute or ransom sacrifice of a perfect man.

According to United Pentecostal theology, this saving faith is more than just mental assent or intellectual acceptance, or even verbal profession, but must include trust, appropriation, application, action, and obedience.