Salvation

Salvation in Christ

102 passages, 5 quoted here · Broad agreement in this library · Against: Marcionism, Ebionitism

We are saved through Christ, the Son of God made man, not by secret knowledge.

Where they stood

Each row is one claim. Each name is a writer, placed at the date of the passage. Select a name to read what they said.

2 of the 5 writers here teach: “Rescue is by the incarnate Son's blood.” They answer a rival view: “We were saved because we were already righteous.”

teaches it partly rejects it later writer, summary only

Rescue is by the incarnate Son's blood2 teach

Barnabas Diognetus

We were saved because we were already righteous1 reject

Diognetus

Salvation is in Christ alone3 teach

Ignatius Hippolytus Methodius

What each writer said, earliest first

Barnabas Teaches: Rescue is by the incarnate Son's blood

fl. c. 100 AD · Epistle of Barnabas 5.1

For this reason the Lord endured handing over his flesh to corruption: that we might be cleansed by the forgiveness of sins, which is by the sprinkling of his blood.

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Ignatius of Antioch Teaches: Salvation is in Christ alone

d. c. 110 AD · To the Ephesians 1.7

Some people, you see, have made a habit of carrying the name around with evil deceit while doing other things unworthy of God. You must shun them as you would wild beasts, for they are mad dogs that bite when you are not looking. Guard yourselves against them, because they are hard to heal.

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Greek

Εἰώθασιν γάρ τινες δόλῳ πονηρῷ τὸ ὄνομα περιφέρειν, ἄλλα τινὰ πράσσοντες ἀνάξια θεοῦ: οὕς δεῖ ὑμᾶς ὡς θηρία ἐκκλίνειν: εἰσὶν γὰρ κύνες λυσσῶντες, λαθροδῆκται: οὓς δεῖ ὑμᾶς φυλάσσεσθαι ὄντας δυσθεραπεύτους.

Letter to Diognetus Teaches: Rescue is by the incarnate Son's blood

c. 150 AD · To Diognetus 9

So when he had already arranged everything in his own mind together with his Son, he let us go on as we wished until the former time, carried along by disorderly impulses, by pleasures and desires. He was not at all rejoicing in our sins, but bearing with them.

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Greek

Πάντ̓ οὖν ἤδη παῤ ἑαυτῷ σὺν τῷ παιδὶ οἰκονομηκώς, μέχρι μὲν τοῦ πρόσθεν χρόνου εἴασεν ἡμᾶς, ὡς ἐβουλόμεθα, ἀτάκτοις φοραῖς φέρεσθαι, ἡδοναῖς καὶ ἐπιθυμίαις ἀπαγομένους.

Hippolytus Teaches: Salvation is in Christ alone

c. 170–c. 235 AD · Refutation of All Heresies 10.34

Taught who the true God is, you will escape these things. You will have an immortal body, incorruptible together with the soul, and you will receive the kingdom of the heavens — you who lived on earth and came to know the heavenly King.

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Greek

Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐκφεύξῃ θεὸν τὸν ὄντα διδαχθείς, ἕξεις δὲ ἀθάνατον τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἄφθαρτον ἅμα ψυχῇ, [καὶ] βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν ἀπολήψῃ, ὁ ἐν γῇ βιοὺς καὶ ἐπουράνιον βασιλέα ἐπιγνούς, ἔσῃ δὲ ὁμιλητὴς θεοῦ καὶ συγκληρονόμος Χριστοῦ, οὐκ ἐπιθυμίαις ἢ πάθεσι καὶ νόσοις δουλούμενος.

Methodius of Olympus Teaches: Salvation is in Christ alone

d. c. 311 AD · Symposium 8 (Word incarnate; dragon)

And as arch-shepherd and arch-prophet, the Word also became arch-virgin for the church by becoming human. John, taken by Christ, shows this to us in the book of Revelation when he says: “I looked, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion.” Christ, long since conceived, was not snatched away to God’s throne the…

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Greek

ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἀρχιπάρθενος, ὃν τρόπον καὶ ἀρχιποιμὴν καὶ ἀρχιπροφήτης, γέγονεν ὁ λόγος ἐνανθρωπήσας τῆς ἐκκλησίας· καὶ ὁ χριστόληπτος ἡμῖν παρίστησιν ἐν βίβλῳ τῆς Ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰωάννης λέγων· καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ τὸ ἀρνίον ἑστὼς ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος Σιών.

Other passages filed here (97)