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Alister McGrath Theology Basics (2018) Chapter 5: Salvation — Transcript

by Alister McGrath on Exploring Christianity · 2,201 words · 331 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00well hello it's Alister McGrath again
0:02helping you to get the most out of my
0:04textbook theology the basics in the
0:07sixth presentation we're going to begin
0:09thinking about the Christian idea of
0:11salvation and this topic is the focus of
0:15the fifth chapter of the book and this
0:17Christian understanding of salvation is
0:19often referred to as suit he reality
0:22again soteriology
0:23from the Greek word citerior meaning
0:26salvation and a central theme of the
0:29Christian message is that the human
0:31situation has in some way been
0:34transformed by the death and
0:35resurrection of Jesus Christ and this
0:38change in the human situation is often
0:41described using the language of
0:43salvation the term soteriology is often
0:46used to refer to this area of Christian
0:49theology Christian thinking on the whole
0:54area of salvation focuses on the cross
0:57the cross on which Christ died and the
1:00death of Christ is seen in Christian
1:02theology as the ground of salvation and
1:05this I think helps us to understand why
1:08so many Christian artists depict the
1:11crucifixion as for example in giotto's
1:14crucifixion a fresco he painted for
1:16scrovegni chapel in padua these images
1:20help us to reflect on what christ
1:23achieved through his suffering and his
1:25death and Gustin of Hippo helps us to
1:28answer two fundamental questions what is
1:32salvation and how is it grounded in
1:35Jesus Christ what the Gustin says is
1:38interesting listen to what he says
1:41Christ is your salvation so fix your
1:45mind on Christ accept his cup of
1:49salvation for he heals all your diseases
1:53your life has been redeemed from
1:57corruption there is no need to be afraid
2:00ever again so let's begin by looking at
2:04some images or ways of thinking about
2:07salvation that we find in Paul's New
2:09Testament letters and throughout those
2:12letters Paul uses
2:13rich range of images to illuminate and
2:17clarify what benefits the death and
2:19resurrection of Christ secured for
2:22believers and we'll look at some of them
2:25in this chapter a very good example is
2:27the image of redemption redemption this
2:31is drawn from the slave market of the
2:33ancient world and it has the basic
2:36meaning of securing someone's release
2:38through a payment in the ancient world
2:42which acted as a backdrop to Paul's
2:44thought the term redemption could be
2:46used to refer to the liberation of
2:49prisoners of war or to freeing those who
2:52had sold themselves into slavery often
2:55to pay off a family debt and Paul's
2:58basic idea here appears to be that the
3:01death of Christ secures the freedom of
3:05believers from slavery to the law or to
3:08death so they might instead become the
3:11servants of God now as you'll discover
3:15when you work away through this chapter
3:17there are many other images that we need
3:19to consider and explore just to know to
3:22justification and adoption and the point
3:26to appreciate is that each of these
3:27images illuminates certain aspects of
3:31the Christian understanding of salvation
3:34certain aspects but not every aspect and
3:38each of these images is to be seen as
3:41part of a bigger picture and part of the
3:44task of theology is to weave these
3:47pictures together to give a coherent
3:50whole and many more of these images
3:53could be added for example the idea of
3:55healing or making whole so having
3:59briefly examined some biblical images of
4:01salvation and reflected on some issues
4:03in their interpretation we're now going
4:05to think about how these images have
4:08been explored and developed within the
4:12Christian theological tradition and this
4:15area of Christian theology is tradition
4:17described as theories of the atonement
4:20again theories of the atonement although
4:23many theologians not
4:25to speak of this area as the doctrine of
4:28the work of Christ so let me set the
4:32scene for a discussion of the steam in
4:34the fifth chapter of theology the basics
4:36and sadly we've only time to look
4:39briefly at three approaches to
4:40understanding how the cross acts as the
4:43basis of salvation each of these bills
4:45encore New Testament themes filling in
4:49part of this bigger picture of what
4:52Redemption represents and how it is
4:55secured in and through the death of
4:58Christ on the cross
4:59none of again offer a complete
5:02understanding of significance Christ's
5:04death and resurrection they each offer
5:07perspectives on the greater truth which
5:10underlies them all first of all the New
5:15Testament draws on Old Testament cultic
5:18practices and interprets Christ's death
5:21upon the cross as a sacrifice and we
5:25find this approach especially in the
5:28letter to the Hebrews which presents
5:30Christ's sector official offering as an
5:34effective and perfect sacrifice which
5:37was able to accomplish to deliver
5:40completely that which the sacrifices of
5:43the Old Testament were able to intimate
5:47but not to achieve and one term that's
5:53really important here is Paul's Greek
5:57term Hillis terraeum often translated as
6:01mercy seat which links Christ's death on
6:05the cross to the Old Testament
6:07sacrificial rituals which were aimed
6:10with dealing with the purging of sin so
6:16that's the first way of thinking about
6:19the meaning of the Cross the second is
6:22to approach the meaning of the Cross
6:24through a series of biblical passages
6:27focusing on the idea of a divine victory
6:30over hostile forces a New Testament is
6:34clear that God has given us a victory
6:38through the resurrection of Christ think
6:40for example that very famous verse in
6:421st Corinthians 15
6:44thanks be to God who gives us the
6:47victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
6:50and Christian writers of the first five
6:53centuries were deeply attracted to this
6:56imagery of Christ gaining a victory
6:59through the cross the Latin phrase
7:02Christus Victor which means Christ the
7:04victor is often used to refer to this
7:08way of thinking about the significance
7:10of the cross and resurrection and the
7:13basic ideas that through his death and
7:16resurrection Christ has defeated death
7:18sin and the devil leading these captive
7:23in a great triumphal procession like
7:27those honoring Roman military commanders
7:30and this famous covering on the Roman
7:33arch of Titus illustrates it's a
7:35procession and you might find it helpful
7:37in trying to grasp the background to
7:40this New Testament image so this
7:45understanding of the work of Christ has
7:46many attractions not least on account of
7:49its highly dramatic character but it
7:53also has some serious weaknesses and the
7:5611th century writer and some of
7:58Canterbury identify two problems with
8:01this approach first of all it seemed to
8:04him to fail to explain why God would
8:06want to redeem us in the first place and
8:10secondly it didn't really make much
8:13sense of exactly how Jesus Christ was
8:16involved in the process of redemption
8:18and then some felt that more explanation
8:23was required particularly explaining how
8:26Christ's divinity and Christ's humanity
8:30were involved in our Redemption so had
8:34some developed a third approach to the
8:36meaning of the death of Christ
8:38integrating a series of biblical
8:40passages dealing with notions of
8:43judgment and forgiveness and Anselm's
8:47argument was that since Christ was God
8:50in car
8:51he brought together a divine nature that
8:55could achieve salvation and a human
8:58nature that required salvation his
9:02argument is actually quite complex but
9:04because has been so influential I'm
9:06going to explain it fully and there are
9:08five basic steps to Anselm's approach
9:12first of all God created humanity in a
9:17state of original righteousness with the
9:20objective of bringing human beings to a
9:22state of eternal joy but there's a
9:26second point that state of eternal joy
9:30depends upon human obedience to God and
9:34we are sinful and so we can't achieve
9:37this obedience and that leads into the
9:41third point the situation can therefore
9:43only be remedied if something is done
9:47about sin something that we can do and
9:50for an some as satisfaction is necessary
9:54for sin something has to be done by
9:57which the offence caused by sin can be
10:00purged this brings us transoms fourth
10:04point there's no way that humanity can
10:07provide this necessary satisfaction we
10:10simply lack the resources needed but and
10:14some notes God Himself possesses the
10:18resources needed to provide this
10:22required satisfaction so we come to the
10:26fifth point on which everything turns
10:28this is the pivotal argument for and
10:31some a God man God incarnate would
10:36possess both the ability as God and the
10:40obligation as a human being to pay the
10:44required satisfaction and therefore
10:48there is a logic line behind the
10:50Incarnation the Incarnation takes place
10:53in order that this required satisfaction
10:56can be made and humanity can be redeemed
10:59Christ is thus able to forgive us our
11:03sins and liberate
11:04from the power of sin he breaks its
11:07power but he also pays its penalty now I
11:13want you to notice what I think is a
11:15very important point here do you see how
11:17Anselm's argument links together the
11:20person of Christ and the work of Christ
11:24and some emphasize that only God
11:28incarnate is able to redeem humanity the
11:33redemption of Christ achieves is
11:36grounded in his identity as God
11:39incarnate just as Christ's identity as
11:43God incarnate qualifies him to redeem us
11:47so let me emphasize this point to
11:50understand the meaning of the Cross we
11:54need to appreciate that the person dying
11:57on the cross is Christ as God incarnate
12:03now it's not what I'd like to make here
12:05we're thinking about salvation and
12:07salvation clearly is about deliverance
12:10from sin but salvation is a very rich
12:14idea and one of the points I'd like you
12:17to think about is this can you see that
12:21the way we think about salvation also
12:24shapes the way we think about sin let me
12:28give you a few examples
12:30supposing we think about sin as
12:32alienation from God then that helps us
12:36to think about salvation as
12:38reconciliation to God okay let's think
12:42about salvation again if we think of
12:45salvation as healing then what sin about
12:49will clearly sin is about an illness a
12:53disfigurement it's about something from
12:55which we need to be healed I wanna think
12:59about another way of thinking about sin
13:01sin as being lost if that's what
13:05cinnabar then salvation is about being
13:07found by being brought home think of the
13:10parable of the prodigal son and so on so
13:15let's think more about how Christ's
13:17achievement
13:18the crossed effects us we've looked
13:21already about what Christ's achievement
13:24on the cross is but we now need to ask
13:26this question how does this benefit us
13:29in what way can we share in the benefits
13:33of Christ's death and resurrection now
13:37the New Testament itself sees faith as
13:39the means by which the benefits of
13:42Christ are embraced and appropriate to
13:46use a New Testament image we can think
13:47of faith as the hand which puts on
13:50Christ or the channel that allows Christ
13:53benefits to become ours or the means by
13:57which we are united with Christ the
14:01point is that faith receives the gift of
14:05salvation which transforms both our
14:08status and our nature and initiates a
14:11process of healing and renewal within us
14:15now there is lots more these be said
14:17about salvation but I hope this
14:19introductory overview of this chapter in
14:22theology the basics will help you
14:25explore its themes in more detail on
14:27your own so let's look at the main
14:30points that are covered in this chapter
14:32on salvation the chapter begins by
14:37looking at Pauline images of salvation
14:40it looks at their distinct identity and
14:43then begins to consider how these can be
14:45woven together in a greater whole with
14:49anything another very interesting
14:50analogy for salvation the idea of
14:53salvation is ransom and we ask how the
14:57theology of analogy in other words
15:01thinking of images as being like but not
15:05identical with something help us unpack
15:08what this image of salvation is all
15:11about we then move on and look at other
15:14images of salvation the cross as a
15:18sacrifice the cross as a victory and the
15:22cross and forgiveness we then begin to
15:26explore our salvation and sin are held
15:29together in our thinking about cry
15:32forging a very clear link between
15:34salvation and Christology
15:37in other words linking the person of
15:39Christ and the work of Christ and also
15:43exploring her salvation Christ and the
15:46redeemed life are held together and then
15:50as you'd expect we come to a text that
15:53we're going to engage with in this case
15:55a text taken from a sermon preached by a
15:58custom in the early 5th century
16:01exploring the ways in which Christ's
16:03death and resurrection secured human
16:06salvation I think you'll find this a
16:08really interesting sermon to engage with
16:11now there is much more needs to be said
16:14about this fascinating and important
16:17area of theology but of course we have
16:19serious time limits so that's it so when
16:22you're ready we're going to move on to
16:24another area of theology in the seventh
16:28presentation which is the Christian
16:30understanding of the Holy Spirit which
16:33is dealt with in the 6th chapter of
16:35theology the basics thank you so much
16:37for listening and I look forward to
16:39speaking to you again very soon

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