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moral, heroic, or religious acts) are free from the corruption of sin. It means that although there may be
all kinds of progress in history, man himself stays monotonously the same. The entire being of sinful
humans is tainted with self-interest. The root of sin is selfishness.”

Who Saves Us? Sin was introduced to the world by Adam’s choosing to disobey God as discussed
before. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this
way, death came to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Through Adam as our ancestor or
representative, we inherit the sin nature (Rom. 5:12,16). Romans 5 is a contrast of two persons, one
who introduces sin and death to the world and another through whom life comes. Through Adam sin
and condemnation entered the world. Through Jesus Christ God’s forgiveness and cleansing is offered
(justification and righteousness) to mankind (Rom. 5:12-19). Christ died for us while we were still sinners
(Rom. 5:8). Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection provide the full payment (atonement) for our
sin and fully satisfy God’s wrath (propitiation [1 Cor. 15:16-17, 2Cor. 5:21, Eph. 2:16). This act and offer
of Jesus Christ is elsewhere called the gift or provision of God; it is abundant and available to everyone
but is only applied to those who receive it (Rom. 5:17).

How do we Receive Salvation? We are saved by believing in who Jesus is and what He offers us. First,
we must hear the message of the gospel which is the good news of the offer of Jesus’ death and
resurrection as payment for the sin of anyone who believes. Then, we must receive the offer for
ourselves by believing in Christ. Believing in Christ means to trust in Jesus as our personal source of
complete forgiveness from God.

Are there other senses of the term salvation in Scripture? Yes, there are many. These will be addressed
in Section 3 of the course. The important point is that salvation history, salvation from oppression,
salvation from death are all important aspects of God’s work in restoring humanity and the fallen world
through salvation from sin. They are not an autonomous salvation goal of their own. They are parts of
what God is doing to deal with sin. They all have specific outworking that are part of the larger salvific
work of God - restoration.

In this diagram, the person who
genuinely turns to Christ for
salvation must at the same time
release the sin to which he or she
has been clinging and turn away
from that sin in order to turn to
Christ.

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18.4 Let’s Practice this Lesson
. . .

1. What does it mean when Jesus said that He was coming soon?

2. Explain how one man could control the total economy of the world.

3. Write out a definition of soteriology.

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