The Illiteracy of Salvation
This is a series addressing the problem of theological illiteracy using the results of the 2022 State of Theology survey by Ligonier Ministries, available here. For an overview of the results and methodology used, see the first post here.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” - Romans 8:28-30, ESV
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” - 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, ESV
Previously, we laid a biblical foundation for the nature of God and our own fallen, sinful nature, noting how far the 2022 Ligonier State of Theology survey indicates the American church has fallen short on these doctrines. Now, we need to look at the doctrines of salvation. While often reduced to the event of placing faith in Jesus, Scripture teaches that salvation is actually a process that began in eternity past and proceeds past the end of time. It’s several steps are known as the ordo salutis, or order of salvation. Just as the short space of a blog post is insufficient to do justice to the doctrines of God, man, and sin, it is equally insufficient to do justice to salvation. John Murray’s Redemption—Accomplished and Applied covers the topic well. Nevertheless, I do need to introduce the topics pertinent to the survey:
Election: Scripture clearly teaches that God chose those He would save before creation, which is known as election. There is significant debate between genuine Christians on the nature of election, whether God chooses those He will save because He knows they will choose Him or if God chose those He would save then enabled them to choose Him. I subscribe to the latter, but many genuine Christians believe the former.[1] (Psalm 65:4, Acts 13:48, Ephesians 1:4-6 and 12)
Penal Substitutionary Atonement: Sinful man cannot be righteous unless the perfect righteousness of Christ is counted as the believer’s and the believer’s sin counted as Christ’s and thus atoned for by His blood. This is penal substitutionary atonement, in which God counts our sin as Christ’s so that He could pay the penalty for that sin, and also counts Christ’s perfect record of righteousness as ours. Thus Christ accomplished salvation for all believers apart from any works or merit we could possibly provide, which was necessary since only the blood of Christ can atone for sin.[2] (Luke 24:25-27 and 45-46, Romans 3:26, Hebrews 9:25-28)
Justification is the instantaneous act of God as part of His work of salvation in which He considers the believer’s sin to be Christ’s (and thus forgiven because of Christ’s substitutionary atonement) and Christ’s perfect record of obedience as the believer’s, resulting in God legally declaring the believer to be righteous in His sight independent of any work or merit on the believer’s part. This exchange is known as double imputation, in which our sin is imputed to Christ and considered His for the purpose or redemption and His perfect righteousness is imputed to us and considered ours. This is the basis of justification.[3] (Romans 8:28-30, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
Regeneration: Since we are all dead in sin, salvation requires us to be made alive spiritually. Regeneration is the secret work of God in which He gives us new spiritual life. It is the actual act of being born again. Only those who are spiritually alive can trust in Christ, so regeneration must come before conversion.[4] (Ezekiel 36:26-27, John 3:3-8, Ephesians 2:5)
Faith: More than mere intellectual ascent, faith places trust in the promise of another such that if the object of faith fails, the one with faith will suffer harm. In salvation, faith means trusting in Jesus Christ alone to deliver on His promises to save us from sin, keep us, sanctify us, and ultimately glorify us. It is complete reliance upon God not our own works or merit, so it is the vehicle through which God has chosen to bring salvation to us. True faith compels action, so it results in good works. Faith is the only proper motivation behind everything a Christian does, since anything not motivated by faith is sin.[5] (Romans 1:16-17 and 14:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Hebrews 11:1 and 6, James 2:14-26)
Repentance: Scripture is clear that faith is not genuine unless it is inseparably joined with repentance, which is the knowledge of sin, the approval of what Scripture teaches about sin, and—most importantly—a sincere commitment to turn from sin and obey God. Repentance is both the initial act of turning from sin to follow Christ and the continual act of turning from sin in our daily lives. Repentance is not merely sorrowful over the consequences of sin, but is genuine sorrow for sin itself and the fact that it offends God.[6] (Psalm 51:17, Luke 12:3, Acts 2:37-41 and 20:21, 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, Hebrews 6:1)
Final Judgment: While God judges people at various times and in various ways, Scripture is clear that at some point in the future, Jesus Christ will judge everyone finally and completely. Since God is perfectly righteous and just—and we are all sinners—He will pronounce the punishment of His eternal wrath on all from whom He has not removed that wrath by His atoning work.[7] (Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Timothy 4:1, Revelation 20:11-15)
Hell: For believers, the execution of God’s judgment took place on the cross, when all of God’s wrath for their sin fell upon Jesus (see penal substitutionary atonement above). But for unbelievers, the execution of that judgment will be hell, which is the place of eternal and conscious punishment for the wicked. Scripture describes hell as a literal rather than metaphorical place despite the fact that certain language used to describe hell in Scripture is certainly figurative.[8] (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 14:9-11)
Since the doctrine of salvation is so rich and includes both the work of God from eternity past to eternity future and the response of man in faith and repentance, it should be no surprise that this was an area of emphasis on the State of Theology survey, with 9 questions gauging people’s understanding of it. Correct responses to these questions are shown below:
State of Theology: Election
19. God chose the people he would save before the creation of the world.
Scripture is clear that God chose who would be saved before creation (Matthew 25:34, Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:4) even if there is an honest debate among Christians as to how God chose us. Did God look into the future, see who would choose Him, and preemptively choose them; or did He choose us in eternity past and then cause us to choose Him? I subscribe to the latter, but this question does not deal with this controversy, instead sticking with what is clearly taught in Scripture and has thus been agreed upon by the Church for centuries. But because of this controversy, it is unsurprising—albeit disappointing—that less than half of respondents across all categories affirmed this doctrine. Only 47% of Midwesterners who regularly attend church and a mere 27% of Northeasterners affirmed the doctrine of election. In all categories, the results of all denominations together were slightly better than the results for evangelicals, regardless of church attendance. I believe this points to a gross oversimplification of salvation in the understanding of many, especially among evangelicals. American evangelicalism often reduce salvation to “praying the prayer” to get “fire insurance” to the detriment of teaching on all that God does to accomplish and apply salvation—to say nothing of how that limited view distorts the very meaning of faith (which we will discuss later). I personally was not exposed to the ordo salutis until well into adulthood despite attending church my entire life, so this is definitely an area where growth is required for the American church in general and evangelical churches in particular.
State of Theology: Justification and Atonement
Two questions dealt with the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement and how God applies that to us in justification.
14. God counts a person as righteous not because of one’s works but only because of one’s faith in Jesus Christ.
34. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
Question 14 is the definition of justification, which is clearly taught in Scripture (Ephesians 2:8-9). With the exception of Northeasterners at 49%, more than half of respondents across all categories affirmed this doctrine. Regular attenders and evangelicals scored better than 70% across regions, which shows a generally healthy belief in this doctrine, though the lack of an overwhelming majority affirming the doctrine indicates the need to further emphasize the clear teaching of Scripture in this area. It is possible that the oversimplification of salvation (and its corresponding oversimplification of faith) in the church in general and among evangelicals in particular could have caused some inflation of these results, but they are still generally positive.
Question 34 speaks to the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement, which is similarly clear in Scripture. Results were generally positive here as well, with a majority across all categories—and over 80% of regular attenders and evangelicals—affirming this doctrine. However, when we consider these results alongside the downplaying of sin that other questions revealed, I cannot help but wonder if these results are inflated. The American church has devalued sin and therefore devalued the Gospel. If sin is no big deal, the atonement of Christ is no big deal either. If people truly grasped the seriousness of their sin, we would likely see more people genuinely trying to earn salvation and therefore answering both of these questions incorrectly. So while the results are still overwhelmingly positive, they may hide a general misunderstanding of what the atonement of Christ and salvation by faith actually mean.
State of Theology: Regeneration
10. The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual new birth or new life before a person has faith in Jesus Christ.
This question is about regeneration, gauging people’s knowledge of what it actually means to be born again. Scripture is clear that we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-3) and cannot even comprehend the Gospel—much less believe it—until the Holy Spirit gives us the new spiritual birth of regeneration (John 3:3-8, Romans 8:1-11, Titus 3:5) to which we respond by faith and repentance. This means that regeneration must come before a person places faith in Jesus Christ, which is the point of conversion. Regeneration may immediately precede conversion such that the two are nearly simultaneous, but regeneration still must come first. Results on this question were varied, with only 66% of regular attenders and 47% of Northeasterners affirming what Scripture teaches about regeneration preceding conversion. Surprisingly, regular attenders overall scored higher than evangelical regular attenders both overall (at 66% vs. 59%) and in the Midwest (63% vs. 50%), and Midwest regular attending evangelicals scored slightly lower than Midwest evangelicals overall (51% vs. 50%). While some of these numbers are too close to draw definite conclusions, I believe this points to a misunderstanding of the process of salvation among American Christians overall and evangelicals in particular. That understanding of salvation is from a human perspective, in which someone prays to receive Christ and at that point is born again, which would put faith before regeneration. Having grown up evangelical, I certainly had such a view. To me, salvation was something that Jesus did through His death and resurrection to which I responded by trusting in Him and then received the indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit. It was not until joining a reformed church in my late twenties that I learned about the ordo salutis and how much the process of salvation entails. I believe this misunderstanding can explain why evangelicals performed worse on this question and why regular church attendance for evangelicals had no or a slightly negative effect. The church in general and the evangelical church in particular needs to provide a more robust education on the entire process of salvation to correct this misunderstanding.
State of Theology: Faith
Three questions dealt with the response of the believer in faith to the God’s work of salvation:
31. Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.
33. It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their savior.
35. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.
Question 31 dealt with the exclusivity of faith in Christ as the means of salvation by stating our pluralistic society’s common belief that there are many ways to God. Sadly, the results showed that many Christians agree with society on this point, with only 62% of regularly attending Midwestern evangelicals and a mere 24% of Northeasterners affirming the exclusivity of the Gospel. Other than regularly attending Midwesterners (at 51%), only evangelicals scored higher than 50% on this question, pointing to the pervasiveness of the view that Jesus is not the only way to salvation. Scripture clearly teaches the opposite: salvation can be found in none other than Christ (Acts 4:12), so any alternative gospel is accursed along with any who espouse it (Galatians 1:8-9). By that definition, there are many individuals and churches who are accursed, so the American church needs to double down on the exclusivity of the Gospel.
The exclusivity of the Gospel means that everyone who does not trust in Christ will eternally perish (question 35) which necessarily leads to the need to evangelize (question 33). Considering the weak performance on question 31, it is surprising that results for these questions were relatively strong. With the exception of Northeasterners (at 49% for question 35 and 47% for question 33) all categories showed well over 50% of respondents affirming that salvation only comes through faith in Christ and its necessary implication that believers need to encourage unbelieves to trust in Christ. While these results are positive, they are still concerning—or puzzling at the very least—when combined with the general denial of the exclusivity of the Gospel that resulted from question 31. If religious belief is a matter of preference due to a lack of objective truth, we cannot claim that faith in Christ is the only means of salvation, but the combined results of these questions suggest that many Christians believe that there is no objective truth and that their personal truth is that the only way to God is through Jesus. This cognitive dissonance must be addressed through an emphasis on the true and exclusive Gospel against religious pluralism.
State of Theology: Final Judgment and Hell
While not often considered as a part of salvation, final judgment is a crucial aspect of it. All salvation is from some terrible fate, so it stands to reason that if the salvation found in Christ is of utmost importance, it must be salvation from the worst fate possible—the wrath of God. A proper understanding of final judgment provides the required background and urgency for the Gospel, so two questions deal with it:
20. Hell is a real place where certain people will be punished forever.
21. There will be a time when Jesus Christ returns to judge all the people who have lived.
Question 20 deals with the existence of hell as a literal place where certain people will go. A bit surprisingly, at least half of respondents affirmed the existence of a literal hell across all categories, with over half of the categories showing scores of at least 80%. Some churches teach and many Christians believe that hell is figurative, though these results suggest that most Christians have not bought into that teaching.
Question 21 speaks to the final judgment of Jesus Christ, which displayed even more positive results, with at least 80% of respondents in nine of twelve categories affirming that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. Like the overwhelming affirmation of the Trinity observed previously, some of this is likely due to the its pervasiveness in the various creeds, such as the Apostles’ Creed. However, since the final judgment of Christ is not as pervasive as the doctrine of the Trinity in church liturgy in general, much of the positive response to this question cannot be attributed to parroting a doctrine without understanding it. Considering the general de-emphasis of the justice and wrath of God in many churches, such sweeping affirmation of both hell and the final judgment was a pleasant surprise. Still, the fact that some groups answered poorly on questions that are so clearly taught in Scripture underscores the need for churches to commit to teaching a balanced theology that includes hell and the final judgment. The questions also didn’t address who will be sentenced to hell and what the judgment criteria would be. If the results for questions on man and sin are any indications, I believe they would paint a much less rosy picture of the state of theology regarding hell and judgment.
Key Takeaways
While results for questions on salvation were generally positive, several gaps in people’s theological understanding were revealed that must be addressed. Many Christians do not understand the process of salvation and God’s predominant role in it. We need to teach a God-centric rather than man-centric view of salvation, ensuring every believe understands the entire process starting with election in eternity past. All Christians need to understand the importance of the full work of Christ on their behalf, not just His atoning death but also His record of perfect obedience throughout His life that is just as vital to salvation. That was something I didn’t understand until my late twenties—and I’m sure I’m not alone. In addition to a robust understanding of justification, Christians also need to grasp how repentance is just as important in their response to God calling them to salvation as faith. Though the Ligonier questions did not cover it, the topic of sanctification also needs to be thoroughly taught. Many Christians see salvation as completed at conversion, but progressive sanctification that occurs throughout a Christian’s life is just as much a part of salvation as conversion. Finally, we need to ensure our view of salvation includes an understanding that we will all be judged by Christ and all who have not placed their trust in Him will be sentenced to hell for eternity. To neglect this is to neglect and cheapen the Gospel itself. So we must heed the warning of Hebrews to not neglect our incredible salvation:
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard
-Hebrews 2:1-3, ESV
NOTES
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 669-679; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 99-108.
[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 569; 571; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 387-389; John Murray, Redemption—Accomplished and Applied, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 1961: Section 1, Chapter 2.
[3] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 723-725; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 533; John Murray, Redemption—Accomplished and Applied, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 1961: Section 1, Chapter 5.
[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 699-700; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 485; John Murray, Redemption—Accomplished and Applied, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 1961: Section 2, Chapter 3.
[5] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 710-711; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 520-521, 527; John Murray, Redemption—Accomplished and Applied, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 1961: Section 2, Chapter 4.
[6] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 713; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 503-504; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: Translated from the First French Edition of 1541 by Robert White, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2014: 295; John Murray, Redemption—Accomplished and Applied, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 1961: Section 2, Chapter 4.
[7] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 1140-1147; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 763-769.
[8] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 1149-1153; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 771-772.
