A doctrinal confession that I've been working on for the last few months:Basis of Salvation: The Work of Jesus the Christ
Ordo Salutis: Election, Effectual Calling, Conversion (Repentance/Faith), Experiential Union With Christ (coincident with: Regeneration, Justification, Reconciliation, Adoption, Positional Sanctification; and demanding: Progressive Sanctification, Preservation, Glorification)
Salvation is the work of God the Father in graciously delivering and redeeming elect humanity from its sinful state and reconciling these ones to Himself on the basis of the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In His perfect active obedience to the will of God the Father, Jesus of Nazareth lived a life free of sin (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:22; John 8:46; 1 Pet. 1:19; 1 John 3:5) and filled with mercy toward others, thus fulfilling God’s law (Matt. 5:17). In His perfect passive obedience to the will of the Father, the sinless Son of God bore the Father’s wrath toward sinners on the cross, dying in our place (1 Cor. 15:3; Gal. 1:4; 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:22; 3:18), the just for the unjust (Isa. 53:6), thus bearing the full weight and curse of God’s law to redeem fallen humanity from their individual and collective transgressions (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 3:13; 4:5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14). In this act, the Son was put forward as a propitiation that appeased the wrath of the Father and satisfied His demands of justice (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). In doing so, Jesus canceled the record of sin-debt that stood against the elect (Col. 2:14), paying the price of death (Rom. 6:23) to redeem us from the slavery of sin, and securing eternal forgiveness of sin on our behalf through the inauguration of the new covenant in His blood (Matt. 26:28; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:22). Christ’s offering up of Himself as an atonement for the sins of humankind is a finished work, an unrepeatable event that has been accomplished once for all time (John 19:30; Heb. 7:27; 9:12, 26-28).
Before the foundation of the world God chose as sons and daughters those whom He predestined to faith in Christ. This election was based neither upon the nature of the elect nor any works foreseen in advance, but was strictly according to the purpose of His will for the manifestation of the glory of His gracious nature and person (Rom. 8:29; 9:11-13; 1 Cor. 1:26-31; Eph. 1:4-6).
God’s electing purposes for those He has foreknown and regarded with favor result in an effectual and irresistible internal call in the hearts and minds of His people when the good news of the Gospel message is made known to them (Ps. 65:4; Rom. 8:28-30; 9:11; 2 Tim. 1:9). By means of the external call of the Gospel, unconverted sinners are called to reconcile with God based on the merits and obedience of the Son, and Him alone. In the non-elect, this external call does not avail to salvation due to their unbelief and hardness of heart (John 10:25-26; Acts 7:51; Luke 14:24; Heb. 4:2). In the elect, this external call becomes inwardly effectual by the power of the Holy Spirit, softening the hardened heart and inclining the sinner’s emotion and will toward God (Matt. 22:1-14; Luke 14:21, 23; 24:31; John 10:3-4, 27; Acts 16:14; Eph. 4:4; 1 Pet. 2:9). It is the Father, through the merits of Christ and in the power of the Spirit, who effectually calls the elect to saving faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior (John 6:44; 1 Cor. 1:30). The effectual call of God inevitably results in conversion, a singular and decisive, once-for-all act of turning from sin to God through faith in the Gospel message (Matt. 18:3; Luke 13:3, 5; Rom. 10:17; Acts 20:21; Eph. 2:8; 1 Thess. 1:9). This repentant faith/believing repentance is the instrument of union with Christ and is granted to believers as a gift through the Holy Spirit, who is the bond of the union. As a gift, faith can in no way be deemed a work performed by believers on their own behalf (John 6:65; Rom. 3:11; 1 Cor. 1:30; 4:7; 12:3; Eph. 2:1, 8; Phil. 1:29; Col. 2:13; 1 Tim. 1:14; 2 Tim. 2:25; Heb. 12:2, 16-17).
At conversion, the sinner experientially enters into union with Christ,[1] thus inheriting all of the benefits of salvation in Him (John 15:4-5; Rom. 8:10; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:11). Through this mysterious union, the elect participate in the life and work of Christ as if they had performed it themselves (Rom. 6:5-6; Eph. 2:6; 2 Cor. 5:14; Gal. 2:20). Christ is in the believer and the believer is in Christ (John 14:20). Formed by the Spirit, this union creates an indissoluble bond that is permanent and eternal, a relationship that can never be undone or severed (John 10:28-30; Eph. 1:11-14; 5:31-32; Phil. 1:6; 1 Pet. 1:23). Union with God the Son simultaneously results in a comprehensive union with the entire Godhead. Those who are in Christ are in God the Father (John 14:23; 17:21; 1 John 2:24) and in God the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Tim. 1:14).
Coincident with the believer’s union with Christ, he is instantaneously regenerated, justified, reconciled, adopted, and positionally sanctified. These are to be regarded as different dimensions of our union with Christ, just as one would behold the facets of a gem. Regeneration is an immediate work of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to the sinner based upon a repentant faith response to the Gospel message. This new birth from above by the power of the Holy Spirit is necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God (John 3:3-8; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23). At the same time, the believer is justified and declared righteous in the sight of God here and now, acquitted of all sins committed, past, present, and future (Rom. 3:24-26; 5:1, 9; 4:1-25; 8:1, 33; 1 Cor. 6:11). This forensic justification is eschatological and is, in fact, the final judgment of God upon the elect in the present: not guilty (Rom. 8:1). Justification is dependent upon the sinner’s union with Christ, for it is only through this relationship that the Father can regard the sinner with favor. No longer considered an enemy of God and object of His wrath, the sinner is instead is reconciled to Him and is granted the new covenant ministry of reconciliation (Rom. 5:1, 11; 2 Cor. 3:6; 5:18-20). Even more, the sinner is adopted into the family of God, becoming a son and co-heir of the benefits of salvation through union with Christ the Son (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:1-7; Eph. 1:5). At the time of union, the believer is positionally sanctified based upon his justified standing before God (Rom. 8:27; 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:2; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2). In this new standing, the believer is freed from the slavery of sin and set apart for a life of Christ-like service and worship in the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
As a necessary result of the believer’s union with Christ, he will be progressively sanctified, growing in spiritual maturity as the Spirit continues His gradual work in the soul (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16; Heb. 6:1; Jam. 1:4; 2 Pet. 3:18). This conformity to Christ-likeness is inevitable, having been conceived in the eternal counsel of God (Rom. 8:29) and having as its basis the inseparable relation of the elect to their Head, which is Christ (Eph. 4:15).
As a necessary result of the believer’s union with Christ, he will persevere in the faith. It is the initiative and power of God that keeps believers strong and standing firm in the faith until the end (1 Cor. 1:8; 2 Cor. 1:21; Phil. 1:6; 2 Tim. 4:18). God will never orphan those whom He has adopted as His children (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:5), will never depart from those whom He has indwelt (1 Cor. 6:19), will never abandon those whom He has sealed with His mark of ownership (Eph. 1:13), will never go back on His word of guaranteeing our inheritance in Christ (2 Cor. 1:22), will never destroy the foundation He has established between Christ and His elect (Eph. 2:20; 2 Cor. 1:21), and will never dismember the body of Christ that He has created by His gracious initiative (Eph. 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:19). Union with Christ gives rise to an effectual working of God in the heart of the believer that enables him to work out his salvation and grow in spiritual maturity (Phil. 2:12-13). The perseverance of the elect is further guaranteed by the eternal nature of the new covenant and the intercessory ministry of our perfect High Priest in the presence of God on our behalf (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 7:25; 9:24; 13:20 1 John 2:1).
As a necessary result of the believer’s union with Christ, he will be glorified, remade fully in the likeness of Christ (Rom. 8:30). In glorification, the final remnants of the old self are destroyed and the elect are transformed fully into the imago Dei as true sons of God and brothers of the Second Adam. The elect who die prior to the return of Christ abide in paradise with God (Luke 23:43) awaiting the fullness of glorification that will occur at the resurrection of their bodies (Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 15:54). These empowered physical/spiritual bodies will never perish, for they will abide in the likeness and vitality of Christ’s glorious resurrection body (Phil. 3:20-21). When Christ appears in His Second Advent, the elect will experience the fullness of union with Him for all eternity, for we shall be like Him when we see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).
[1] In another sense, the elect were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) and before the ages began (2 Tim. 1:9). It is only by regarding us as justified in Christ that the Father could set His gracious electing purposes upon us and still continue to uphold His holy character.
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