SOTERIOLOGY.
Definition (§1).
Relation to Mediation (§ 2).
Relation to Christ's Prophetical Work (§ 3).
Relation to the Atonement (§ 4).
Relation to Justification (§ 5).
Relation to Christ's Kingly Office (§ 6).
Summary (§ 7).
Soteriology is that branch of Christian theology which treats of the work of the Savior ; it is the doctrine of salvation, so far as such salvation has been wrought out by the second person in the Trinity. It is to be carefully distinguished from Christology
(q.v.), which treats solely of the per-
i. Defini- son of the Redeemer — his incarnation,
tion. his divinity, and his humanity, and
the combination of these two elements in his single and perfect personality. Yet it should be borne in mind always, that any adequate conception of his soteriological work must be based on right views, antecedently obtained and established, respecting the Christ as he is in himself— the appointed and qualified savior of men. Soteriology does not include the concurrent work of the Son of God in other spheres, such as creation, or providence, or moral administration. Nor does it include those aspects of salvation which involve, on the one side, the elective purpose and love of the Father, or, on the other, the interior ministry of the Spirit in the application of saving grace. While the Son is concerned with the Father in the original plan of redemption and in the selection of those in whom that plan becomes effectual (see Predestination), his specific work lies rather in the execution of that plan, and in the actual securing of redemption to all who believe. While, again, the Son is concerned with the Holy Spirit in the conviction of sinners, and in bringing them, through regeneration and sanctification, into the full enjoyment of the salvation provided (see Holy Spirit), his primary work is rather the provision itself on which, as a divine foundation, this subsequent work of spiritual restoration must be based. The Father creates, preserves, governs, plans, elects, as introductory; the Spirit enlightens, educates, sanctifies, and completes the saving process in the individual soul; the Son, acting as intermediate, represents, reveals, instructs, atones for sin, placates law, and lays a foundation
Soterioloffy Soto
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
in justice, whereby, under an economy of grace, every one who believes in him, the Father and the Spirit concurring, may be saved.
The most general conception of this specific work of the Son of God is expressed in the term mediation (see Mediator). His peculiar mission is to interpose, in the temper of grace and
2. Relation for the purpose of both forensic and to Media- spiritual reconciliation, between man
tion. as a sinner, and the Deity against whom man has offended, with whom he is morally at variance. As a mediator, the Son of God, who was also the Son of Man (qq.v.), was amply qualified, both by inherent endowment and through official appointment; and in his work of mediation, he is actually successful in removing alienation, in restoring the lost harmony between God and the sinner, and in securing to man a complete and blessed and eternal at-one-ment with his heavenly Father. This generic work of mediation is generally described by Calvinistic theologians under the three specific forms indicated in the terms prophet, priest, and king (see Jescs Christ, Threefold Office of). It has been questioned whether this distribution is in all respects desirable; whether, by the division of the one work into these three parts or offices, our sense of the essential unity of that work is not impaired; and whether the underlying idea of mediation is not weakened by such multiplicity of particular functions and relations (J. J. van Oosterzee, Christian Dogmatics, § cviii., New York, 1874). Is this central idea adequately expressed in these three forms? Do they contain neither more nor less than the underlying conception? And, where the distribution is made, are these three offices always kept in their proportionate place, and severally invested with their proper dignity and value in the one mediatorial work? Whatever answer may be given to these questions on exegetical or speculative grounds, there is no adequate reason for rejecting an analytic presentation which has gained such definite expression in current evangelical creeds (Heidelberg Catechism, Ans. 31 ; Westminister Confession, chap, viii.) and has been so extensively adopted as a regulative guide in modern theology.
Studying soteriology in this triple aspect, there
appears first the prophetic function of the Savior,
as including that entire revelation of saving truth
which he, as the divine Logos, came
3. Relation among men to make. All religious, to Christ's and especially all inspired, teachers Prophetical who were prior to him as revealers of
Work. sacred doctrine or duty, were only messengers to prepare the way before him; and all who followed after had it as their mission simply to elucidate and expand what he taught. Christ was the one perfect Logos, in virtue both of his eternal relationship within the Trinity (see Trinity) and of his specific appointment as the Word of the Godhead to man. In him resided all the qualifications requisite to the complete fulfilment of this prophetical work, and from him came in highest form, and with most commanding power, all the truth which man needs to know in order to his salvation. This prophetical function may be subdivided into direct and indirect — direct teaching
through the formal enunciation of saving truths, and indirect teaching through the superadded power of example and personality. Christ, as teacher and prophet, becomes an enduring pattern also. In himself, as well as in his message, was light; and the fight was the fife of men. It may be queried, whether, in consequence of the strong inclination of Evangelical Protestantism to exalt the priestly work of our Lord as central, this prophetical mission has not been relatively too much ignored, and, more specifically, whether the Biblical view of him as the true norm and example of our humanity has not been surrendered too much to the uses of those who altogether reject his priestly character and mission.
Concerning this priestly function, it is needless to repeat what has been said elsewhere (see Atonement; Calvinism, § 5; Jesus Christ, Threefold Office of; Priest, Priesthood; Sacrifice). The essential fact in the case is the voluntary and vicarious surrender of himself by our Lord as a sacrifice before God for sinners, on account of their sin, and in order to expiate sin, and to secure the reconciliation and restoration of man as sinful to God. As a sacrifice, Christ was inherently and judicially perfect, a lamb without blemish and without spot; as a priest, he was in every way qualified for the sacrificial work in which he was thus engaged; and his administration of the priestly office was voluntary, official, and acceptable. In him both the Aaronic priesthood and the peculiar priesthood of Melchisedec were singularly blended. He was, in his own person, the absolute culmination of the priestly as well as the prophetic order and idea. As priest and as sacrifice he was perfect.
That this vicarious intervention and offering of himself in behalf of sinners and for sin was an essential part of the mediatorial work of the Savior, is too clearly revealed in Scripture to be 4. Relation questioned by any who receive its testo the timony in the case as conclusive. The Atonement, exigencies of that moral government against which the sinner had rebelled, the requisitions of justice as an eternal principle in the Deity, and the needs of the soul itself in order to its spiritual recovery, alike required — as the Bible in multiplied ways asserts — such a sacrifice of himself, even unto death, on the part of the Redeemer. Without this, mediation would have been both inadmissible and ineffectual (see Satisfaction. For differing views on the nature and the extent of the atonement see Atonement). Whatever may be the views of believers as to either the nature or the extent and scope of this sacrificial work of Christ, all are agreed in regarding the fact itself as both unquestionable and vital. That the Lord suffered as well as taught, and that he suffered on account of sin and in order to save men from it, and that through his suffering men are actually saved from both the condemnation and the power of evil, and that this salvation is immediate and certain, and will be complete at last — these are the great facts of grace which lie at the basis of the Evangelical system, and which constitute the foundation of all Evangelical hope.
Justification (q.v.) is the divine act of pardoning