Soteriology: The Doctrine of Salvation
Syllabus
Bob Wilkin, Ph. D.
Professor
This course is designed to lead the student to a solid understanding of and a refined ability to speak concerning the doctrine of salvation. This will be accomplished through daily readings, written assignments, and interaction on the class WebBoard.
The grading will be based on two exams over the assigned reading (20%), the assigned weekly papers (50%), the semester project (20%), and interaction on the WebBoard and chat room discussions (10%).
(Note: This course requires an unusually large number of books since it is so foundational to evangelism and discipleship.)
Bing, Charles C. Lordship Salvation: A Biblical Evaluation and Response. GraceLife Edition. Burleson, TX: GraceLife Ministries, 1997.
Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. 4 Volumes. Reprint edition. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1948, 1993.
Dillow, Joseph C. The Reign of the Servant Kings: A Study on Eternal Security and the Final Significance of Man. Miami Springs, FL: Schoettle Publishing Company, 1992.
Hodges, Zane C. Absolutely Free! A Biblical Reply to Lordship Salvation. Dallas and Grand Rapids: Redencion Viva and Zondervan Publishing House, 1989.
________. The Gospel Under Siege: Faith and Works in Tension. Dallas: Redencion Viva, 1981, 1992.
________. Grace in Eclipse: A Study on Eternal Rewards. Dallas: Redencion Viva, 1985.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. The Gospel According to Jesus: What Does Jesus Mean When He Says "Follow Me"? Revised & Expanded Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988, 1994.
________. Faith Works: The Gospel According to the Apostles. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993. (Note: This book is out of print and thus hard to find. GES has copies reserved exclusively for students of this class to purchase.)
Radmacher, Earl D. Salvation. Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000.
Wilkin, Robert N. Confident in Christ: Living by Faith Really Works. Irving, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 1999.
Semester Project
Your semester project is due at the end of the course, Week 14 Assignment 3. Write a 1500-2500 word critique of MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus. Critique his methodology, as well as his content. A two-level outline of your critique is due Week 4 Assignment 1.
Schedule of Assignments
Papers should be outlined or organized logically so that they are easy to follow. Our goal is to help you become a better writer and thinker, so we will pay attention to style as well as content. Be careful to give credit for sources quoted or ideas borrowed. Also, never submit your paper without proofreading and spell checking. You should limit yourself to four hours per paper.)
Learn to read for ideas rather than words. Limit yourself to four hours per reading assignment.)
Study these 25 NT uses of the words sozo and soteria (In these verses, these words are not always translated as save or salvation): Matt 8:25; 14:30; 24:13; 27:40, 42; Mark 5:23, 28, 34; Luke 1:71; 8:12; John 3:17; Acts 2:40; 7:25; 27:20, 31; Rom 10:13; 11:26; 13;1; Eph 2:8; 1 Tim 2:15; 4:16; Heb 11:7; Jas 5:20; 1 Pet 1:9; Jude 23. Come up with different categories for the meanings of the words (e.g., deliverance from disease, which equals "healing").
Week 1 Assignment 2
Study these 25 OT uses of the words save and salvation (all of which have the words save or salvation in the KJV translation): Gen 45:7; 49:18; Ex 1:22; 14:13; Deut 20:4; Josh 10:6; Judg 6:14; 1 Sam 4:3; 1 Chron 16:35; Neh 9:27; Ps 18:3; 38:22; 51:12; 57:3; 59:2; 119:155; Prov 28:18; Isa 12:2; 35:4; 62:11; Eze 18:27; Jonah 2:9; Mic 7:7; Hab 1:2; 3:18; Zech 9:9. Then, as you did with the 25 NT verses, come up with different categories for the meanings of the words.
Week 1 Assignment 3
Using your previous two studies, write a 500-750 paper categorizing as best you can the uses of the words save and salvation in the OT and NT. State any conclusions you have drawn.
Read Chafer, 55-115 (on things accomplished by Christ’s sufferings and death, including substitution, redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation). As you read this and later reading assignments, begin to record brief but good definitions for these key words in soteriology: Vicarious substitution, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, forgiveness, atonement, justification, regeneration, adoption, election, foreknowledge, predestination, calling, sanctification, glorification, grace, faith, repentance. You will need to know these definitions for the exams.
Week 2, Assignment 2
Read Radmacher, 27-75 (on God’s provision and accomplishments in salvation).
Week 2 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper on the substitutionary nature of Christ’s death. Explain the concept of Christ’s substitution on our behalf and refer to some of the major Bible passages. Include a good illustration that clarifies and conveys the concept. Relate the condition of salvation, faith, to the discussion by showing why faith must be the only way to salvation.
Read Chafer, 116-64 (on the sufferings and death of Christ in types, key terms related to Jesus’
death, and various views of the atonement). You should have read most of The Gospel According to Jesus by now.
Week 3 Assignment 2
Study the doctrine of justification by finding three good sources (books, articles, Internet). Check the table of contents or index in Chafer and Radmacher to see what they have to say.
Week 3 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper on the doctrine of justification. Be sure to include a precise definition, major Bible teaching, and some of the controversies over this doctrine (in brief).
Spend 2-4 hours working on the semester project outline. Submit it. It should include main points and the first level subpoints. For ideas, you may want to check out various reviews of The Gospel According to Jesus on the Internet, or one in the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society and one in the GES newsletter.
Week 4 Assignment 2
Read Chafer, 165-82 (on election and the order of elective decrees), and these resources on the GES web site (www.faithalone.org): Wilkin, "Election and the Gospel;" and "The Lord Opened Her Heart (Acts 16:14);" Hodges, "God’s Role in Conversion;" and "Man’s Role in Conversion;" and at www.Bible.org: Daniel B. Wallace, "My Understanding of the Doctrine of Election."
Week 4 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper on the doctrine of election. Be sure to include the common difficulties with this doctrine. Explain how you reconcile election with the command for man to believe the Gospel.
Read Chafer, 183-205 (on the extent of the atonement). Look over Chafer, 206-65 so as to appreciate the riches of divine grace.
Week 5 Assignment 2
Use a concordance to study NT references to love and grace in relation to God’s character and why or how He provided for man’s salvation.
Week 5 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper that defines, explains, and relates the characteristics of God’s love and grace to his provision of salvation. Do you see any implications that a proper biblical view of God’s love and grace might have to various areas of soteriology?
Read Dillow, 489-513; Chafer, 267-339; and Wilkin, 91-98 (on eternal security). Note what you think are the three most powerful arguments against eternal security and the three most powerful arguments for eternal security.
Week 6 Assignment 2
Write a 300-500 word paper that answers the three most powerful arguments against eternal security that you listed in the previous assignments.
Week 6 Assignment 3
Work on a rough draft of your semester project.
Week 7 Assignment 1
Submit a rough draft of your first main point for your semester project.
Study for your mid-term exam.
Week 7 Assignment 3
Midterm Exam
Read Chafer, 371-93; Hodges, Absolutely Free!, 193-212 (on what one must do to be saved).
Week 8 Assignment 2
Read Bing, 13-20, 54-59; Wilkin, 3-15; Hodges, Absolutely Free!, 25-43; Radmacher, 113-28 (on faith and salvation).
Week 8 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 page paper on what faith is and isn’t, what one must do to be saved.
Read Wilkin, 47-59; Hodges, The Gospel Under Siege, 9-29; Radmacher, 203-18 (on faith and assurance). You should be working on your rough draft of the semester project.
Week 9 Assignment 2
Read Dillow, 271-310; MacArthur, Faith Works, 157-73 (on faith and assurance).
Week 9 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper on the relationship of faith to assurance. Be sure to discuss whether you believe assurance is of the essence of saving faith. In other words, if a person has never been sure that he has eternal life, could he be born again?
Read Wilkin, 131-41; Dillow, 25-41, 209-43; MacArthur, Faith Works, 175-92 (on perseverance and salvation).
Week 10 Assignment 2
Read Bing, 1-12; Wilkin, 179-86; MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, 141-48; Faith Works, 21-35 (on Lordship Salvation).
Week 10 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper on the three most persuasive arguments against Lordship Salvation.
Read Bing, 60-92 (on repentance and salvation).
Week 11 Assignment 2
Read Wilkin, 199-210; Hodges, Absolutely Free!, 143-63 (on repentance and salvation).
Week 11 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper on the various Free Grace views of repentance explaining which view you hold and why.
Read Wilkin, 187-98 (on baptism and salvation); Radmacher, 219-27 (on glorification).
Week 12 Assignment 2
Read "The Gift of Salvation" (The Evangelical and Roman Catholic Agreement on Justification) and Phil Congdon’s critique of it in the Autumn 2000 Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society.
Week 12 Assignment 3
Write a 500-750 word paper on the Roman Catholic view of the Gospel and salvation. Express your areas of agreement and disagreement.
Study two of these subjects for papers due in the next two assignments:
What is the unpardonable sin? Relate this to salvation.
Do all little children go to heaven when they die? Discuss whether the Bible teaches an age of accountability.
What happens to a devout Buddhist who dies without ever hearing the Gospel?
What is the relationship between justification and sanctification?
Is water baptism necessary for eternal salvation?
What do you think about the 5 points of Calvinism’s TULIP?
What is the ordo salutis and why is it important in one’s view of salvation?
Explain salvation in its 3 tenses or aspects in the NT (past, present, future).
Explain how and why the distinction between salvation and discipleship is important.
Explain universalism (all people will be saved) and annihilationism (the unsaved are annihilated so that they do not go to hell). Read and mention proponents of these views.
Week 13 Assignment 2
Write a brief 250-350 word paper on one of the subjects you studied in Assignment 1.
Week 13 Assignment 3
Write a brief 250-350 word paper on another one of the subjects you studied in Assignment 1. (Note: You may write a 500-750 word paper on any of the remaining topics for extra credit. Grades you receive on extra credit work will replace your lowest grades for previous papers in Weeks 1-12. Do as many as you wish).
Work on your semester project and study for the final exam. Review reading for main ideas and definitions of key terms.
Week 14 Assignment 2
Work on your semester project and study for your final exam.
Week 14 Assignment 3
Final Exam. Submit your semester project in final form.