Posting 4r

Chapter 4 OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SALVATION p39p

In this chapter we will examine the evidence for Biblical Fact # 4 (see Introduction):

“Jesus ‘saved’ sinners, once for all, by making the supreme sacrifice 2,000 years ago. We speak of this as ‘objective’ salvation. The Bible means something altogether different when it says that Paul set out to ‘save some’ (1 Cor. 9:22). The Holy Spirit ‘saves’ sinners by using human agents to bring the gospel to them. We refer to this as ‘subjective’ salvation. A great amount of confusion results when this crucial distinction is lost sight of.”

Throughout this study it will be extremely important to keep in mind the distinction between “objective” and “subjective” salvation. This cannot be emphasized too strongly! Many misunderstandings will develop if we forget this biblical distinction.

Consider what the apostle Paul said: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). Did Paul ever “save” anyone? Neither Paul nor anyone else can do what Jesus Christ did to “save” sinners. That was accomplished “once for all.” Therefore it can be said, “Jesus is the only Savior!” This irrefutable answer alerts us to the fact that the Bible uses the concept “to save” in at least two fundamentally different ways. This good and absolutely necessary distinction can be maintained by using the terms “objective” and “subjective” salvation. p40p

OBJECTIVE SALVATION

Objective salvation refers to the work accomplished by Christ nearly two thousand years ago. By his perfect life and sacrificial death he objectively saved every human being who will be finally saved. Their salvation was made certain when he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14). Second Cor. 5:18, 19 speak of this as an accomplished fact: It was God “who reconciled [past tense] us to himself through Christ,” and that “God was [past tense] reconciling the world to himself in Christ.” “But now he has reconciled [past tense] you by Christ’s physical body through death” (Col. 1:22).

Other references to objective salvation as a past event are found in:

Luke 1:68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and redeemed his people.”

Rom. 3:25 “God presented him as a sacrificial atonement”

2 Cor. 5:18 “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ”

2 Cor. 5:19 “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”

Gal. 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, by becoming a curse for us.” p41p

Eph. 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins”

Col. 1:22 “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death”

2 Tim. 1:10 “Our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light”

Titus 2:11 (RSV) “For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men.”

Heb. 1:3b “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.”

Heb. 9:12 “He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Heb. 10:10 “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Heb. 10:14 “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”

1 John 2:2 “He is [an accomplished fact] the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world”

Rev. 5:5 “The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.”

Rev. 5:9 “Because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Because sinners “have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10, emphasis added), the passive command “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20) cannot mean that sinners must do something to complete the work of reconciliation. Paul did not conditionally offer “the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19). To “be reconciled to God” sinners who hear “the message of reconciliation” must simply trust or believe the good news that they “have been reconciled to God.” p42p

This trust or belief that they “have been reconciled to God” does not add to or complete the work of reconciliation that was perfectly accomplished by Jesus Christ. However, for sinners to finally refuse to believe “the message of reconciliation” will one day be a testimony against them. This is a paradox the Bible leaves us with, the unresolved dilemma of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.

At Christmas we sing, “God and sinners reconciled!” Christians throughout history have confessed that every person who will be saved has been reconciled to God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Looking back on his life Paul recognized that he had been objectively saved before he set out for Damascus. Paul speaks of “this grace that was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim. 1:9). Paul knew that God had “separated [him] apart from birth” (Gal. 1:15). Paul was not “converted” before his Damascus road experience! So, a person can be “objectively” saved, as Paul was, before he or she is converted or identified as a Christian.

Because objective salvation is a past event, the Bible occasionally speaks of “the gospel [good news] of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13, emphasis added). In this study the expressions “the elect in Christ” and “those who will be saved” refer to those whose salvation has been objectively accomplished by their identity with Christ in his death and resurrection. They are among those who will surely come to fullness of new life in Christ.

SUBJECTIVE SALVATION

Subjective salvation occurs when the Holy Spirit transforms the sinner’s heart, soul, and mind so that he or she desires to live in obedience to God’s will. That is to say, their conversion may occur at any point in time during their earthly life. p43p

It is only in this subjective sense that Paul or anyone else can be an instrument used by God to subjectively save those who are already objectively saved by Jesus Christ.

A few of the many references to subjective salvation can be found in:

John 3:16 “. . . that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned.”

Acts 2:41 “Those who accepted his message were . . . added to their number that day.”

Acts 2:47 “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Acts 16:14b “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.”

Rom. 1:13 “I planned to come to you in order that I might have a harvest among you.”

1 Cor. 1:18 “. . . to us who are being saved it [the gospel] is the power of God.”

1 Cor. 9:22 “. . . so that by all possible means I might save some.”

The Holy Spirit often uses the gospel (the good news) to transform the heart, soul, and mind of those for whom Christ died, thus equipping sinners for good works and bringing to them the joy and comfort of their salvation. This is subjective salvation. In this subjective sense Paul and the church today have the task of “saving” sinners. Therefore the gospel is not only spoken of as “the gospel of salvation” (Eph. 1:13, emphasis added), it is also referred to as “the power of God for” salvation (Rom. 1:16, emphasis added). p44p

When it is reported that, as a result of an evangelism effort, a number of persons were “saved,” this necessarily is a reference to subjective salvation.

ROMANS 10:9–17

The basic premise of Evangelical Inclusivism is that “All persons will be saved (are elect) except those the Bible declares will be finally lost.” This premise appears to be contradicted by those passages of Scripture that are often understood to teach that sinners must do something in order to “be reconciled to God.” One of many such passages is Rom. 10:9–17 which begins by saying:

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’

This passage continues by asking:

“And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

The passage concludes:

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

This passage, together with parallel passages, does not tell sinners what they must do in order to be “reconciled to God.” The kind of salvation that is spoken of in this passage is the kind that the Holy Spirit works in the heart of God’s people when they hear the word preached, that is, subjective salvation. This is established beyond doubt by what we read in Rom. 10:8–11 and 13–17. This passage speaks of what sinners need to know so that they may “live and die in the joy” of knowing they have been reconciled to God. p45p

Evangelical Inclusivism recognizes that the message of the gospel must be conveyed for subjective salvation to occur. Therefore Rom. 10:9–17 is totally compatible with the premise of Evangelical Inclusivism.

Rom. 10:9–17 declares the same truth that is summarized in the second question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism. The first question and answer of the catechism speak of those who know that they are not their own, “but belong ─ body and soul, in life and in death ─ to [their] faithful Savior Jesus Christ.”

Because the catechism’s second question is addressed to those who already know they are saved, the question is not, “What must you know to be saved?” Instead it asks, “What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?” What comfort? The comfort of knowing you belong to your faithful Savior Jesus Christ. “To live and die in the joy of this comfort” one must know the truths that are found only in the Word of God. Similarly Rom. 10:9–17 teaches us that for sinners to experience the comfort and joy of knowing they have been reconciled to God (objective salvation), they need to know the truths that come to them by the preaching of the Word (subjective salvation).

Dr. John Murray and others use the following analogy to help us see the relationship of objective to subjective salvation:

“To say to the slave who has not been emancipated, ‘Do not behave as a slave’ is to mock his enslavement. But to say the same to the slave who has been set free is the necessary appeal to put into effect the privileges and rights of his liberation” (Epistle to the Romans, Eerdmans, 1959, I, p. 227). p46p

Dr. Edward Fudge explains in practical terms what this means:

“Just as President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and, by the stroke of a pen, objectively freed every Black American slave, so Jesus Christ, by his obedience in life and unto death, objectively saved every human being who finally will be saved. And just as no American slave personally enjoyed the benefits of Lincoln’s act until he or she heard and believed the good news of emancipation, so no redeemed sinner subjectively enjoys Christ’s redemption now except through the preaching and belief of the gospel. In this sense, we are presently ‘being saved’ (1 Cor. 1:18; Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:9).

“Until men and women learn the good news of their salvation, they continue to live as if nothing had happened. They remain as they had been – without hope, not knowing God, unaware of his forgiveness and favor. The gospel ministry is for the sake of such men and women – that they may obtain salvation, subjectively as well as objectively (2 Tim. 2:10). Like Paul at ancient Corinth, we also need to declare the gospel fearlessly and without ceasing, for God still has many people who have not yet heard the good news of what he has done for them in Jesus” (Acts 18:9–10; 2 Cor. 5:18–19; 2 Peter 3:9).

“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them [objective salvation]. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation [subjective salvation]” (2 Cor. 5:19). p47p