Live 4 The LORD

Guide to St. Paul’s Writings on Salvation

Based onPaul’sLetter totheRomans

by Dr. Andrew Swafford

Let’s start at the beginning. What is sin?

Sin is more than a bad example or a mistake: sin is a dysfunction deeply rootedin our human nature, a dysfunction that manifests itself in the personal sins we each commit by individual human beings (see Romans 7:15, 17:19-20; Catechism 387, 404). This condition of sin stems from the first human being, Adam, and implicates us all (see Romans 5:12, 5:19). Even though we personally didn’t “choose” to place ourselves in opposition to God and his plan, the sin of our first parents still affects us in the same way that a pregnant woman’s decision to abuse drugs or alcohol adversely affects her child—even through no fault of the child’s own. In fact, original sin is anabsence—a lack of the grace we originally possessed. In their sin, our first parents forfeited this grace, and they couldn’t pass on what they no longer had. Original sin is like the parents of a grand estate who recklessly squander their inheritance, so there’s nothing left to pass on.

 

Because of what we have lost due to original sin, our intellects are darkened, our wills are weakened, and our moral lives are an intense struggle—a battle in which we very often know what the right thing to do is, but still have great difficulty doing it because we want to do the wrong thing. This dissolution within ourselves leads to spiritual andphysical distress and death, alienation from God, and disharmony with one another and even with the created order.

 

What does it mean to be saved?

In Jesus, God has united himself with us and entered fully the plight of our human condition, even dying our death. God chooses to enter our “mess,” so to speak, seeking to take sin out at its root and transform us from within. By dying as we die, Jesus deals with the full consequences of sin—namely, death itself (see Genesis 3:19; Romans 5:12). But death couldn’t hold Jesus—and indeed, this is what salvation is all about: by entering into Christ, we share in his death and his resurrection (see Romans 4:25; 6:5). In salvation, then, God atones for our sinand gives us a share in the risen life of theEternal Son (see Catechism 654).

 

How do we enter into Christ?

In Romans 5, St. Paul teaches clearly that those who are in Christ, the New Adam, now share in his victory over sin and death (see Romans 5:14, 5:19). The question for us is, “How do I get out of the Old Adam and into the NewAdam?” Paul answers this directly in Romans 6—through Baptism.

 

Baptism incorporates us into the death of Jesus and enables us to share— even now—in his risen life: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from death by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life”(Romans 6:3-4). Clearly, for Paul, Baptism accomplishes something— it’s the means by which we enter into the victory of the Cross (see Romans 6:5, 6:8, 6:11).

 

Am I saved?

Is salvation a past, present, or future event? The answer is it’s all three:

●      I was saved in Baptism.

●      I am being saved throughthe power of the HolySpirit’s ongoingtransformation of my life.

●      And I hope to be saved bypersevering to the very end incharity.

 

Salvation is about entering into Christ’s life and death and sharing in his Eternal Sonship. Salvation is not merely an acquittal—it’s not just the removal of a guilty verdict. Salvation is about divine adoption, whereby we become sons and daughters in Christ.Salvation is thus a dynamic process,which begins in new birth and continuesin the Spirit’s continual transformationof our lives. In other words, it is not a static reality or a one-time event. This is why St. Paul can exhort us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

 

What is required for salvation—faith or works?

Paul says very clearly that both faithand works are required for salvation—in other words, “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). For Paul, faith is not simply a matter of “belief,” a positive attitude or disposition toward God. Rather, faith includes “obedience” (see Romans 1:5; 16:26)—it’s a matter offaithfulness. The evidence of our faith—the evidence of our salvation—is a transformed life marked by good works (see Romans 2:6, 2:13).

 

To overcome this dichotomy between faith and works, we need to think of salvation not in the context of a courtroom, but in the context of a family— because that’s what a “covenant” is all about. God forges family bonds with us and with one another.

 

In the New Covenant, God has sent us the Holy Spirit and thus has infused us with divine life—the very life of the risen Christ (see Galatians 2:20 and Romans 5:5). He has not merely acquitted us, as a judge might; he hasadopted us as a Father does. Our good works, then, are those of a loving son or daughter—not merely those of an employee or slave. Ultimately, a father demands more from a son or daughter than a judge does from a defendant, but a father’s mercy is also far greater and deeper than that of a judge.

 

Our natural life is a gift we did not earn, and yet we truly participate in ourown natural growth and maturation. The same is true of our supernatural life: it begins as pure gift, given to us in Baptism. But like our natural life, this gift of divine life is dynamic and grows within us as we become ever more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (see Romans 12:1). God is thesource of our salvation, but he doesn’tsave us without us. We truly participate and cooperate in the Spirit’s ongoing transformation of our lives. Salvation is about the gift of divine life and the growth of this life within us as we become mature sons and daughters of the Father, conformed to the image of Christ Jesus.

 

What’s it all about?

In essence, Christianity comes down to this: accepting with love the gift given to us in Baptism, and allowing the Holy Spirit to reproduce the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in and through each of us personally.

 

Jesus goes to the Cross as our Head, in solidarity with us, not merely as our substitute. And through the gift of the Spirit, he infuses our fallen humanity with his divinity (see Catechism 460). In Baptism, we enter into his death and resurrection; in the Holy Eucharist, we are offered up “in Him, with Him, and through Him” to the Father; and each day, through the power of the Holy Spirit, our lives become more and more an outpouring of love for others.

 

In this way, through the life of the Son and the gift of the Spirit, God answers the deepest yearnings of the human heart—healing our wounded nature andelevating us to share in his blessedlife.

 

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)