Salvation in Christ

in Kallistos Ware understanding

The Descent of Christ into Hell (or Harrowing of Hades) the Chora Church, Istanbul – fresco c.1315
Genesis 3:14-19
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon
your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall
be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
17And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it
shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the
ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The Christian teaching has been, from the beginning, that the nature of man was profoundly corrupted as a result of the fall.
Adam and Eve sinned by violating God's order and breaking their connection with God - Who alone is Life. The breaking of this
communion with God can be consumed only in death, because nothing created can continue indefinitely to exist of itself. Thus,
by the transgression of the first man, the principle of "sin (de devil) entered into the world and through sin death, and so death
passed upon all men..." (see Romans 5:22) Humans’ wholesome essence got split into three parts - mind, heart, and body - that got
in conflict with each other. We inherit that damaged nature, with its pre-disposition to sin.
Why couldn't a loving God just forgive the sin of Adam? Why did Christ need to come? The Patristic answer to this is that the
"original damage" cannot be "forgiven" - it can only be cured!- Adam and Eve repented - however, " repentance does not
recall men from what is according to their nature; all that it does is to make them cease from sinning." (St. Athanasius, On the
Incarnation).
Christ did not make humans sinless, as there is still sin in the world , even after the Resurrection of Christ. He delivered
humans from the power of sin, from the pre-disposition to sin that man was unable to reverse by himself.

Second Ecumenical Council 381

Symbol of faith they confess their belief in “…….one Lord Jesus Christ the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all
ages. Who for us men and for our salvation come down from the heavens and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin
Mary, and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He
arose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father and He shall come
again with glory to judge the living and the dead; Whose Kingdom shall have no end.”
 Four Points

1. Salvation is not to be easily explained it is a mystery – reaching out into the dazzling darkness
of God.
2. God desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
3. The author of salvation is extended to every human being without an exception (synergia: divine
grace and human freedom).
4. Salvation is personal but is not isolated. We are not saved alone but as members of the body of
Christ, the Church).
 Five Models
Four questions

Questions:

1. Does the model in question envisions a change in God or in us? (we need change not God)
2. Does the theory in question separate Christ from Father? (Salvation is God’s work in Christ)
3. Does the model isolate the cross from the incarnation and the resurrection? (Christ’s saving work
as a unity: birth, life, miracles, death, resurrection, ascension. Altogether, constitute a single,
undivided action.)
4. Does the model presuppose am objective or subjective understanding of Christ’s work? (Does
the saving work of Christ appeal primarily to our feelings and emotions or does it change the
state of the universe?)
 FIVE MODELS

1. Christ saving work seeing in terms of exchange. (He was made man that we might be made God;
“God became man so that man might become God” – Athanasius of Alexandria).
2. Christ set us free. The ransom that Christ pays on our behalf is nothing less than his own life laid
down on the cross.
3. The sacrifice model. (Christ dies as a sacrifice for us. A sacrifice presupposes the idea of love).
Satisfaction theory.(Christ’s death is an act of reparation. It satisfy the father’s offended honor.
Not in Greek or Latin Fathers. It is a Medieval addition).
4. The Victory model. (cosmic battle)
5. Christ’s life and death as being the supreme expression of love in action.
 Is Hell Crowded or Empty?
by Robert Barron

The Descent of Christ into Hell (or Harrowing of Hades) the Chora Church, Istanbul – fresco c.1315
• Very old question in Christian theology
• Bible teaches the existence of Hell
• Origen (185 – 253): everybody is save, so in the end everyone gets to Heaven; including the
fallen angels, including Satan himself (apocatastasis = restoration at the end of time)
• Augustine (354 – 28 August 430): he said that original sin resulted in what he called the
masa damata (the damned mass) the whole human race is basically deserving of hell, but
God in his infinite mercy picks a handful of souls out of the damned mass and saves them.
• Thomas Aquinas (1225 –1274): most people will be damned and that part of the joy of
heaven is to see the suffering of the damned
• Robert Holmes (born1970) Evangelical pastor– universal reconciliation – controversy in the
evangelical community
• Karl Barth (1886 –1968) - Reformed theologian - in the cross of Jesus all people are safe,
and the church's job is to announce this good news to the world
• Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905 –1988)– Catholic theologian: we may reasonably hope that
all people will be saved, because of the dramatic thing that God did through the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God desires all people to be saved, but human freedom
can still resist even that incomparable love of God.
 Introduction to Theological Studies
Winter 2018

Chose three (3) of the following four (4) topics and write an essay of maximum 4 pages for each
topic. Please be aware that the questions require you to exercise your power of synthesizing the
materials you have studied. Don’t expect the professor or teaching assistant to fill in your missing
sentences and thoughts. Use examples from the readings we have covered. No helping materials are
allowed.

1. Kataphatic and Apophatic Theology

2. Tradition and the Icon
3. The Mother of God
4. Soteriology
 The final grade

The final grade will be determined by:

1. in-class participation 20%
2. mid-term test 40% (30% quiz and 10% reflection paper)
3. final exam 40%