Three Approaches To the How Of Salvation

How do we receive salvation from God? By what process is salvation accomplished? People have asked this question for millennia.
My studies have convinced me that there have been basically three approaches to the way God deals with people concerning salvation.
1. God wants all people to be saved. But not all people will be saved because God gave free will to humanity and each person must choose to follow Christ by his own free will and many do not make this choice.
This approach has generally through the centuries been called “Arminianism”. It is probably the majority opinion within Christianity.
2. God does not purpose that all people be saved. But rather, God predestines that some people be saved and others will not be saved. Humanity does not really have a free will and cannot themselves choose whether to be saved or lost.
This approach has generally been called “Calvinism” since the Protestant Revolution. It is held by a minority within Christianity.
3. God desires that all people be saved. And since He is the all-powerful, sovereign Creator, His desire will be accomplished. All humanity will be saved – somehow, whether in this life on earth or in a future spiritual existence.
This approach has generally been called “Universalism”. It also is held by a minority within Christianity.

Arminianism

Everyone likes to believe that they have a free will and can choose how to live their own lives. This probably accounts for why the majority of Christians hold this belief. In the Bible, we see choices being made every day by its characters, so Arminianism says that there must be a free will in humanity.
But, carried to its ultimate conclusion, it would seem that this puts man’s will over God’s will because “God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). God wants salvation for all, but man can thwart God’s purpose by his free will.
Also, did Christ die for all as the Bible repeatedly states, or only for those who choose by free will to follow Him?
What about God “hardening the hearts” of individuals like Pharoah of Egypt so that they cannot accept anything about God? Is this “free will”?
Arminianism can be confusing!

Calvinism

Calvinism has a five point doctrinal approach which is called “TULIP”.
T = Total Depravity: Man is dead in sin, completely and radically impacted by the Fall, the enemy of God, incapable of saving himself. This does not mean that man is as evil as he could be or that his will is done away with. Instead, it refers to the all pervasiveness of the effects of sin, and the fact that man is, outside of Christ, the enemy of God.
U = Unconditional Election: God elects a specific people unto Himself without reference to anything they do. This means the basis of God’s choice of the elect is solely within Himself – His grace, His mercy, His will. It is not man’s actions, works, or even foreseen faith, that “draws” God’s choice. God’s election is unconditional and final.
L = Limited Atonement: It is God’s purpose to save a special people for Himself, and He has chosen to do so only through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Christ gave His life “a ransom for many” so as to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The intention of Christ on the Cross was to save His people specifically. Therefore Christ’s sacrifice is perfect and complete, for it actually accomplishes perfect redemption.
I = Irresistible Grace: When God chooses to bring one of His elect to spiritual life, it is an act similar to when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead: just as Lazarus was incapable of resisting the power of Christ in raising him from the dead, so too the dead sinner is incapable of resisting the power of God that raises him to spiritual life. This is not to say that men have not resisted God’s grace. This doctrine speaks specifically to the grace that brings new birth and regeneration, not to individual acts of sin committed by believers or unbelievers.
P = Perseverance of the Saints: Some prefer saying “preservation of the saints” to emphasize that this is the work of God. Others use the phrase “eternal security” to emphasize the impossibility of God’s perfect work of salvation being undone. Whatever one calls it, Christ will not fail to keep a saved person throughout his life and bring them safely into His presence. Christ is able to save perfectly.
What do the ramifications of “tulip” mean? Certainly God as the Master Potter has the power and control to create some people to be saved in spite of the actions of their human life, and some people to be lost in spite of the actions of their human life. But why would He? Is this concept fair?
Calvinism can be confusing!

Universalism

What about the approach that everyone, every person, will ultimately be saved? Will the Pharoah of the Exodus, Jack the Ripper, Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam Hussein all be somehow saved? Is this justice or fairness?
Does saying that “God will have all men to be saved” automatically mean that all men will be saved? It certainly does not appear that all men are saved in this human existence. Then when are they saved? And under what circumstances and trials in some afterlife do they come to accept Christ as Savior and Lord? If they have a free will, what type of persuasion by God is needed for their regeneration and new birth?
Universalism can be confusing!

I have not ironed out my own theology on these confusing issues. But you know what? IT DOESN’T MATTER AS FAR AS MY PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY IS CONCERNED!
I still am growing in the “greatest commandment”: love of God and love of my neighbor.
Since I know with all of my being that I have had a new birth in Christ, I love God for it whether He “elected” me personally and not someone else, or whether He persuaded me to make a free will choice for Christ. How I got to where I am in Christ does not matter compared to the reality that I AM THERE!
I am growing in love of my neighbor. A neighbor in need is a neighbor indeed. We need to exercise the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. These are attributes of Christ within us which we can draw on in our weakness.
You might say, “What good is evangelism of unbelievers if they are either destined to be lost no matter what they do, or destined to be saved no matter what they do, or destined to all be saved some time in the future by some unknown process?”
The answer is the Bible still calls for evangelism. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 cannot be clearer: we are to spread the gospel of Christ to unbelievers in every way possible. God apparently wants to use us in His salvation process whether through “election” or through “free will choice”. It doesn’t matter as far as practical evangelism.
What about prayer? If God’s sovereignty overrules man’s free will, is prayer really practical? If man’s free will overrules God’s sovereignty, then again is prayer really practical?
The answer is that the Bible admonishes us throughout that prayer is probably the most practical thing a Christian can do! Prayer is not to get God into our will, but rather to get us into God’s will. The only way we get to know our Creator, Savior and Lord is by communication in prayer.
If God has things all planned out ahead no matter what we do, He still says, “PRAY!”
If God allows human free will to enter in to His plans, He still says, “PRAY!”
Let’s let the practical love of Christ rule our lives and let the brainy theologians argue over Arminianism, Calvinism and Universalism. I suspect that there will be no finality in argument until we get to heaven and get it straight from God’s mouth.

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