Why do we need salvation?

Mike G. wrote:

I have posted on this subject extensively in a number of different threads. I have found that before launching into a debate with a member of this board that it is helpful to review what they have posted about themselves.

A careful study of the Epistle to the Romans will reveal that your questions show a basic misunderstanding of soteriology. I strongly suggest that you carefully read the commentary by Sanday and Headlam because it will bring to your attention the matters that are involved here and will greatly help you to understand what I believe and why I believe it, and why the science of evolution and the Biblical doctrine of soteriology are not in conflict with each other. The matter is too complicated for me to explain it to individuals who do not have the necessary framework in place to understand my explanation. The commentary by Sanday and Headlam will give you first the necessary framework AND the explanation. After you have carefully and prayerfully read the commentary by Sanday and Headlam, if you still have any questions, I will be pleased to answer them for you.

Note: The commentary on Romans by Sanday and Headlam is a commentary on the Greek text of that epistle, and it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the Greek language to understand the commentary, but since you are so adamant in your position, I assume that your knowledge of Greek is extensive and that you will have no problem with the commentary.

 

It is not a requirement for most of us to invest several years of our lives in post-doctoral studies in soteriology at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in order to have a saving faith in Christ. I am not at all questioning your salvation, but some of the things that I have read in your posts suggest to me that your knowledge of soteriology is inadequate for you and me to discuss intelligently the relationship between the soteriological passages in Genesis and the soteriological passages in Romans. (And no, I am not suggesting that I have myself invested several years of my life in post-doctoral studies in soteriology at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford).

I am making an attempt here to be realistic. Certainly reading one commentary on Romans, no matter how excellent that commentary may be, is no substitute for spending seven or eight years at a "seminary internationally recognized for its academic excellence". Nonetheless, the careful and prayerful study of the one commentary that I recommended would answer the questions that you seem to me to be asking.

No, the commentary is an excellent one, and I am quite confident that if you were to carefully and prayerfully read it, you would have the answers to your questions. You may not agree with the answers, but you would have them and we could then discuss them.

It is not at all necessary for your hypothetical friend to spend several years of his life in post-doctoral studies in soteriology at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in order to be saved. Nor is it necessary that he read even the most simple commentary on Romans. Nor is it necessary for him to know the answers to any of the questions that you have been asking, but simply to trust Jesus to save him.

Becoming a pastor was a major career change for me, but that new career lasted only about six years. The reasons for this are very complicated and I myself do not have all the answers. I certainly do very much miss the pastoral life.