What Are the Six Ways of Salvation

The model that most appealed to me was the model of Jesus as Moral Example and Influence. This model shows how Jesus teaches us to love one another. It is similar to the first model in that Jesus is a teacher but instead of focusing on the wisdom of Our Lord's doctrine, this second model focuses on the greatness of love that Jesus has for us and that He inspires in us through His moral example and goodly influence. Jesus is the model of what it means to love. As Peters (2006) notes, "Jesus models for us the life of unselfish love. He models the life of self-sacrificial love or agape" (p. 226). This model gives us the blueprint for how to "copy Jesus" -- and while the teachings of Jesus can be enlightening and uplifting, it is really his example in action that seals the deal, so to speak: His healing of the sick, listening to and eating with sinners, showing great mercy to those who seek it in faith, and even showing love towards His enemies on the cross -- all of this is the model of love that Jesus expects us to follow. Our intelligence may not be so great as to win debates with those who have no faith -- but we can through our actions, through our love, win hearts for Christ. That is what this model teaches.

What I like about this model is that it appeals not so much to the intellectual side of what makes Jesus such a good source inspiration but rather to the emotional side. Logic and reason certainly have their place in the way we conduct ourselves, but at some point we realize that logic and reason only take us so far -- that there are still unanswered questions that haunt us, that we still must rely on faith in Christ to overcome the obstacles that get in our way. We cannot always reason our way out of things -- and to some extent our use of reason can actually get in the way. We often use reason to justify our actions when if we look at Jesus as a model of love, the example of how we should behave towards others is quite clear. There is no need to seek justifications or excuses for why we cannot help others or why we should ignore people's requests for mercy. Our Lord shows us exactly what to do and even tells us directly to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40).

The Gospels the models seem to most closely match are the following: Model 1 -- Jesus as teacher of true knowledge -- most closely matches Matthew's Gospel because of the Sermon the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Model 2 -- Jesus as moral example and influence -- most closely matches Luke's Gospel because it is written for a gentile audience and emphasizes the need for Christians to love one another: "Love your enemies" (Luke 6:27-36). Model 3 -- Jesus as the victorious champion and liberator -- most closely matches Mark who writes of the Resurrection and states that "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19) clearly indicating Christ's victory over death. Model 4 -- Jesus as our satisfaction -- most closely matches Luke's Gospel because it appeals to our need to find wholeness in Jesus's kingdom (Luke 1:46-55). Model 5 -- Jesus as the happy exchange -- most closely matches Matthew's Gospel, which is written for the Christian Jews, so that they can understand how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise -- the happy or Good News that the Jews have been waiting for. Model 6 -- Jesus as the final scapegoat -- most closely matches Matthew's Gospel for it is in this work that Jesus is constantly seen to be pointing out our hypocrisy and instituting a new priesthood in his own image while calling out those like the scribes and Pharisees for being like "white-washed tombs" (Matthew 23:37) that look good on the outside but are full of death internally.

References

Peters, T. (2006). Six ways of salvation: How does Jesus save? Dialog: A Journal of Theology, 45(3): 223-235.