This paper examines the relationship between soteriology — the study of salvation — and Christology — the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The author argues that salvation cannot be understood apart from the nature of Jesus, exploring both the objective and subjective dimensions of soteriology, the scriptural basis for conditional versus universal salvation, and the theological debates surrounding Christ's dual nature as fully human and fully divine. Drawing on scholars including Oscar Cullmann, Russel Aldwinckle, and Donald Bloesch's treatment of Karl Barth, the paper considers how the early Church's Christology evolved and what it means for humanity's relationship with God today.
Soteriology is the study of salvation, and Christology is the study of the person and work of Jesus. It is through Jesus Christ that humankind receives salvation; therefore, it is through Jesus Christ that the understanding of salvation must come. Jesus Christ — the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Anointed One, or any of a dozen other titles he claims or has been given — what can we know of him? Has there ever been a life more closely studied than the life of Jesus of Nazareth? Brilliant scholars and simple men alike have spent lifetimes in that quest. Yet they have had no different source material than the authors of the New Testament from which to glean deeper knowledge, and they have not agreed upon the interpretation of the words they do have. "There is, thus, a difference between the way in which the first Christians and the later Church understood the Christological problem" (Cullmann, p. 4). The modern church spends an increasing amount of time debating the "problem of language" as it pertains to the divinity of Jesus (Aldwinckle, p. 45).
"The basic question is whether the attribution of divinity to Jesus which seems to be present in the New Testament writings other than the Synoptic can justify itself in the light of anything which Jesus said about Himself, and even if it cannot appeal to any words of Jesus, whether the impact of His total life and ministry can be invoked as a reasonable basis for this higher Christology" (Aldwinckle, p. 47).
How then can one know that salvation is available? The hope of resolution accompanies each interpretation of the Word. If one believes that Jesus is more than a wise man — or, for that matter, more than a man — then his life becomes the most important subject one can strive to understand. There can be no salvation without Jesus, because it is through him that salvation has been attained.
One may argue that the subject of salvation, or soteriology, is the single most important aspect of Christology, for what other point is there? Soteriology is both objective and subjective. The objective view is that Jesus Christ is the vicarious recipient of the punishment due humankind for its fall from perfection and grace. He experienced death, then defeated death in the resurrection, thereby paying the price for humankind in the eyes of God. "Salvation is the free gift of God to man by grace through faith, completely aside from human works. Works in the life of a believer are tremendously important, but they are to be the result of receiving and appropriating God's grace in the salvation they receive. As the prophet declares, 'Salvation is of the Lord' (Jonah 2:9). Therefore, in every aspect it is a work of God on behalf of man and is in no sense a work of man on behalf of God" (Soteriology, p. 7).
God cannot be in the presence of imperfection except through the sacrifice of Jesus. "Man is not only separated from God by sin, by God's holy character, and by the penalty of sin, but he is faced with the problem of spiritual death and the need of spiritual life" (Soteriology, p. 10). Without Jesus, humankind is without a means of redemption.
Subjective soteriology asks humanity to understand the sacrifice that Jesus has made. Humankind must come to God through faith and be reconciled to the holiness of God. Without this subjective understanding — an individual's grasp of the accomplishment of the resurrection — a person cannot have a relationship with God. "The instrument and cause of reconciliation is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. 'God made Him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him'" (Soteriology, p. 13; 2 Cor. 5:21).
Does this mean that salvation is universal? It would seem logical to assume that if the price has been paid, then no further action need be taken. However, a review of the following passages of scripture suggests that Christ's gift is not without conditions:
John 3:17–18 — "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
John 3:36 — "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
John 12:48 — "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day."
John 14:12 — "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father."
Acts 4:12 — "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."
Ephesians 2:8–9 — "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Soteriology, p. 26).
The key is that a person must acknowledge that he is saved in order actually to receive the gift. Not all biblical scholars hold this position. Donald Bloesch explains Karl Barth's soteriology, noting that "all are predestined to salvation in Christ even before the dawning of history, even before the primordial fall of man" (Bloesch, p. 32). Unfortunately, Barth then appears to contradict himself by suggesting, "we cannot equate their number with the totality of all men; to do so is to confuse God's sovereign grace with a universalistic principle" (Bloesch, p. 38).
"Christ's dual nature and the problem of sinlessness"
"Old and New Testament meanings of salvation"
It is through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross that humankind receives salvation. Only through the understanding and acceptance of the gift through faith can humanity claim salvation. On the question of Jesus' nature, one must continue to ponder. Faith in the reality of his humanity and his Godhead provides the only path to understanding salvation. The first Christians accepted the fact that Jesus is God. St. John witnesses to the nature of the Word in the first eighteen verses of chapter one of his Gospel.
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