Oboedire | August 7, 2025
Soteriology—the theological word for the doctrine of salvation. In the Wesleyan tradition, theology is an “order of salvation” (ordo salutis). That is, the entire Gospel is arranged in relation to the nature of God (love) and the actions of God’s saving grace. Any exploration of theology inevitably leads to questions/affirmations regarding who is saved, how many are saved, how are they saved, etc.
First Nations Version
I have written previously about my study of soteriology, one that concludes with a belief in the universal intention of it in God but also the universal accomplishment of it by God. It is a multi-decade, multi-faceted journey with a path rooted in the Bible and paved with passages like this,
“Everyone dies in Red Clay (Adam), and everyone comes to life in the Chosen One” (1 Corinthians 15:22, First Nations Version). [1]
Everyone means everyone, but with many of the details of achievement left unrevealed, and all of it in the context of Mystery. I believe that what God wills is what God has accomplished in and through Christ. Simply put, it is finished—mission accomplished. Nothing and no one can prevail against God. Human freedom does not defeat God’s sovereignty I have written about this in my book, It is Finished! (SacraSage, 2024).
Today, I take my conviction a step further in print—this time not from Scripture but from life observation. Sadly, we are living in a time of systemic exclusion as despots define undesirables and devise ways to remove them. We are quick to call this evil.
But interestingly, some can transfer their ideology of exclusion into the nature of God and design a theology of salvation (both in time and eternity) where only some are saved. The rest are damned, either annihilated or subjected to eternal suffering. What we find inexcusable in world leaders on earth, some find allowable in God in heaven.
harper ident 2024
But watching the increase of evil through fallen-world systems, complete with their massive expressions of harm and suffering, has added to my conviction that God is not like this in nature or action. Simply put, God is not a despot. God is not defining “undesirables” and constructing an eternal “Alligator Alcatraz” to exclude them. This happens in the “kingdoms of this world” but not in the kingdom of God. Instead, we see…
Diversity: “I saw a great crowd of people, too many to count, from every nation, tribe, clan, and language” (Revelation 7:9, FNV).
Equity: “It no longer matters whether you are Tribal Members (Jews) or Wisdom Seekers (Greeks), slaves or free, male or female. For in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, you are all one people” (Galatians 3:28, FNV).
Inclusion: “In the Chosen One there are no longer Insiders and Outsiders, or those who ceremonially cut the flesh and those who do not. We no longer see ourselves as uncivilized, ruffians, slaves or free. For there is only the Chosen One. All are in him, and he is in all” (Colossians 3:11, FNV).
So, my theology of salvation no longer affirms in God what we denounce in humans. God’s way is not an eternal extension of what we see happening day after day. God’s way is a transformation of the kingdoms of this world (in time and eternity) so that they become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ (Romans 11:15). We are moving toward the time when every knee bows and every tongue confesses Jesus is Lord of all (Philippians 2:10-11).
This is truly amazing grace. It is the grace I see in God, who is love (1 John 4;19), a love that not only desires all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4) but turns that desire into the fulfillment of it in Christ. This creates a theology of salvation that looks like God, not demagogues.
[1] The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament (InterVarsity Press, 2021).