Soteriology

Definition and Meaning

Soteriology means "the doctrine of salvation." It deals with the process by which a person is delivered from sin, reconciled to God, and brought to eternal life. Its principal topics include grace, faith, repentance, justification, and sanctification. Justification is God's act of declaring a sinner righteous; sanctification is the process by which a justified person is made progressively holy. In the Reformed tradition, the sequence of salvation—calling, regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification—is systematized as the ordo salutis, or "order of salvation."

Biblical and Historical Background

Passages frequently cited in Protestant soteriology include Ephesians 2:8 ("For by grace are ye saved through faith"), Romans 3:24, and John 3:16.

In the fifth century, Augustine refuted Pelagianism, which held that salvation could be attained by the human will alone, and emphasized the priority of God's grace. During the sixteenth-century Reformation, Martin Luther championed justification by faith, the teaching that a person is made righteous "by faith alone."

Protestantism subsequently divided between Calvinism, which emphasizes God's election, and Arminianism, which emphasizes human freedom to respond to grace. The Canons of Dort (1619) of the Dutch Reformed Church set forth the Calvinist position. In the eighteenth century, John Wesley laid the foundation of Wesleyan theology, which emphasizes prevenient grace and sanctification. Prevenient grace is the grace that goes before, given to all people.

Practice in Korean Churches

• Presbyterian: On the basis of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Presbyterian churches teach predestination and the perseverance of the saints. The perseverance of the saints is the doctrine that those who are truly saved will never fall away from salvation.
• Methodist and Holiness: The Korean Methodist Church and the Holiness denominations follow Wesleyan theology in emphasizing both grace and the human response. They hold that a person who departs from the faith can lose salvation. The Holiness churches place great importance on the experience of entire sanctification subsequent to regeneration.
• Pentecostal: The Korea Assemblies of God and similar bodies, in keeping with the Pentecostal tradition, emphasize baptism in the Holy Spirit. Pastor David Yonggi Cho is known for teaching a "threefold blessing"—prosperity of the soul, prosperity in all things, and health—based on 3 John 1:2.
• Baptist: Baptists emphasize the individual's profession of faith. Many Baptist churches teach that salvation, once received, cannot be lost.

In Korean churches, the understanding of the assurance of salvation is frequently a point of contention. The general assemblies of several denominations have objected to the view of salvation held by the Salvation Sect (Guwonpa), which centers on "realization" and assurance, and have declared it heretical. The Salvation Sect has rejected these rulings. The differences between Calvinism and Wesleyan theology are treated in greater detail in the article Predestination and Free Will.