Why does the doctrine of soteriology create controversy?

If you were the devil, where would you attack? Over the course of the first five hundred years of church history the attack centered on the person of Christ. Which is why the ecumenical councils of that era focused on that question and gave us the creeds we now cherish, which guard the faith once delivered.

Would you not also want to attack the doctrine of soteriology, or how we are saved? These are both, by their very nature, essential issues. In fact, in retrieving the doctrine of justification by faith alone, Luther called it “the article on which the church stands or falls.” Get this wrong, and you are no longer a church.

Luther, of course, is simply reflecting the wisdom of Paul, who argued that if even he should teach a different doctrine than what he had taught, he hopes he would be damned, “let him be anathema” (Galatians 1:8).

The Judaizers, with which he did battle, who wanted to add circumcision and keeping the ceremonial law as necessary to salvation, were Paul’s target. But there are myriad approaches designed to undermine the sufficiency of the work of Christ for us and the means by which that work becomes our own.

Rome, for instance, argues that the we are “saved” as we cooperate with the grace infused into us through the sacraments. And sadly, some in the Reformed world are likewise guilty of their own version of the Judaizing heresy.

The work of Christ alone is brought to us by faith alone. As we rest in Him alone our sins are imputed to Him and His righteousness imputed to us. That’s how it works. But we are not saved by knowing how it works. If we add understanding and affirming justification by faith alone as necessary for salvation then faith is no longer alone. We must be careful that our defense of the gospel does not become a denial of the gospel.

Consider the tax collector in Luke 18. He knows nothing about the work of Christ. He certainly couldn’t give an exposition on the distinction between infusion and imputation, nor a defense of justification by faith alone. Yet Jesus said that he went home justified.

Because he repented and believed. He acknowledged the reality of his sin, that he had no ability to make it right and that his only hope was in the mercy of God. That’s what it means to rest in the finished work of Christ alone.

Part of our sin, however, is our propensity to want to take some of the credit. We want to contribute something to our salvation. But we have nothing. Even the faith we have was first given to us by the Holy Spirit. True repentance means we understand that we have nothing. Latter Day Saints, in addition to adding to God’s Word, denying the deity of Christ, affirm that we do contribute to our salvation.

Finally, we are likewise prone to want to believe what we want to believe. God’s requirement is resting in Christ alone. But we know, and often love people who do not do so. And we want them to be saved. So we make up our own rules. We draw bigger circles than God, and think ourselves fine fellows for doing so. When what we are doing is denying the God who redeemed us. So why is the doctrine of salvation always an issue? Because the issue is always how we are saved.