The Biblical Doctrine of Salvation: A Soteriology Course Syllabus

From the Introduction The starting point for our study will be, as always, the inspired word of God—the Bible. I take as a foundational presupposition that God exists and that He has truthfully revealed Himself. This revelation is found in the created universe (general) and in the Word incarnate and inscripturated (specific). Thus, the Bible remains for us the sole basis by which we know God as Savior. But the self-revelation of God and His plan for saving sinful people as contained in the Scriptures was given over the course of time. He did not reveal His redemptive plan in its entirety from the beginning. Rather, He revealed it progressively because He intended that historical events themselves (e.g., the covenants enacted with the Patriarchs; the exodus of Israel from Egypt) should be significant components in the revelation of His salvific plan. This being the case, it is an unwarranted expectation that what we find more fully explicated in the Apostolic Scriptures should be equally seen in the Torah. Or to say it positively: the seeds of this doctrine which we find in the Torah and Prophets are in full bloom in the Apostolic Scriptures. This does not mean whatsoever that the doctrines of salvation as they pertain to the soul are the inventions of the Apostles, as some teach, or that Israel understood salvation in strictly temporal terms (i.e., being rescued from one’s national enemies). As we shall see, the Tanach is replete with the revelation both of God’s intentions to save His people from their sins and the method by which He intended to accomplish this salvation.