Christ - Christ and Salvation in Christianity

Christ and Salvation in Christianity

In Colossians 1:15-16 Apostle Paul viewed the Nativity of Jesus as an event of cosmic significance which changed the nature of the world by paving the way for salvation.

Christian teachings present the Love of Christ as a basis for his sacrificial act that brought forth salvation. In John 14:31 Jesus explains that his sacrifice was performed so: "that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." Ephesians 5:25 then states that: "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it".

In the 2nd century, Church Father Saint Irenaeus expressed his views of salvation as in terms of the imitation of Christ and his theory of "recapitulation". For Irenaeus the imitation of Christ is based on God's plan of salvation, which involved Christ as the second Adam. He viewed the Incarnation as the way in which Christ repaired the damage done by Adam's disobedience. For Irenaeus, salvation was achieved by Christ restoring humanity to the image of God, and he saw the Christian imitation of Christ as a key component on the path to salvation. For Irenaeus Christ succeeded on every point on which Adam failed. Irenaeus drew a number of parallels, e.g. just as in the fall of Adam resulted from the fruit of a tree, Irenaeus saw redemption and salvation as the fruit of another tree: the cross of crucifixion.

Following in the Pauline tradition, in the 5th century Saint Augustine viewed Christ as the mediator of the New Covenant between God and man and as the conqueror over sin. He viewed Christ as the cause and reason for the reconciliation of man with God after the fall of Adam, and he saw in Christ the path to Christian salvation. Augustine believed that salvation is available to those who are worthy of it, through faith in Christ.

In the 13th century Saint Thomas Aquinas aimed to recapture the teachings of the Church Fathers on the role of the Holy Trinity in the economy of salvation. In Aquinas' view angels and humans were created for salvation from the very beginning. For Acquinas the Passion of Christ poured out the grace of salvation and all its virtues unto humanity.

Martin Luther distinguished the history of salvation between the Old and the New Testament, and saw a new dimension to salvation with the arrival of Christ.

The focus on human history was an important element of the biblically grounded 16th century theology of John Calvin. Calvin considered the first coming of Christ as the key turning point in human history. He viewed Christ as "the one through whom salvation began" and he saw the completion of Christ's plan of salvation as his death and Resurrection.