Every Christian should be intimately familiar with precisely what our Lord accomplished on the cross in our behalf, for this is the basis for our eternal salvation. There are five distinct results of the cross; 1. Atonement 2. Redemption 3. Reconciliation 4. Expiation 5. Propitiation In addition there are 34 other gifts that God gave to us at the moment of salvation, but we will focus on these 6 factors, for they are directly related to the Doctrine of Soteriology. Atonement The Righteousness and Justice of God are the two of His attributes that are involved in the issue of sin. His Righteousness rejects sin as an offense to His Person and His Justice demands that the guilty party be punished. In our case the sentence would have been the Lake of Fire forever. Why? Because the absolute nature of God cannot accept anything less than an absolute penalty, and there is no finite punishment, meaning a penalty with a terminus, that would satisfy His Justice. But the grace of God found a way. He sent His Son to be our substitute, the bear the punishment for our sins in our stead. In the three hours that Jesus hung on the cross the sins of mankind were judged in Him, every last one. Because He was without sin, and did not commit a personal sin while bearing our punishment, the Justice of God was satisfied with less than an everlasting punishment. There are also extenuating circumstances, such as our being born in sin, and therefore never having had a choice in the matter, but for the sake of this study we will stick to the theological definition of these terms. Atonement then is the act of compensation, paying a suitable price for a misdeed; "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." (2 Cor 5:14-15) Redemption The ministry of Christ whereupon He redeemed all men from the bondage of sin and delivered us into the freedom of grace. " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" (Eph 1:7) "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:" (1 Pet 1:18-19) Reconciliation The removal of the barrier between man and God which consists of sin, the penalty of sin, physical birth, man's relative righteousness, the charactar of God and man's position in Adam. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (Rom 5:10) "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;" (2 Cor 5:18) Expiation The cancellation of the staggering debt of punishment for sin. "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" (Col 2:14) Propitiation A word meaning "satisfaction"; The sacrifice of Christ which satisfied the Justice of God. "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 Jn 2:2) "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;" (Rom 3:24-25) Although not technically included in the doctrine proper of Soteriology, there are many other instantaneous ramifications of Christ's work which the believer appropriates at the moment of salvation, 40 in all. Among these are; Regeneration The birth of our human spirit, termed in popular Christian-speak "born again". (Jn 3:1-18) Justification The believer is justified by the sacrifice of Christ, identified with his work, and declared by God vindicated because he possesses the Righteousness of God. (Rom 4:1-5, Gal 2:16) Imputation At the instant of salvation God the Father imputes Divine Righteousness and Eternal Life to the believer, qualifying him to dwell in heaven forever. These are both Divine attributes that we could not possibly aquire by any other means. God gives them to us! (1Cor 1:30; 2Cor 5:21) [ HOME ]