“Soteriology”, is the study, teaching and belief, of the means to eternal salvation; It comes from the Greek words sōtēria, meaning “salvation” and logos, meaning “word” or “study”, sōtēria is derived from sōzō (pronounced sode’-zo) meaning “save”, which developed from the word sōs̄, which was a contraction from the Greek word meaning “safe”.

There are two prominent views of the way to eternal salvation (Soteriology);

  1. Man’s choice: this perception teaches that man can exercise “free will“, to accept the offer of the “free gift of eternal salvation” from God, which can be either accepted or rejected; It’s common in this perception, to hear people say “I chose Christ“, or “I gave my heart to God“. Some preachers encourage people to “make a decision for Christ“, this doctrine is often presented as “God’s invitation of eternal salvation to anyone who chooses to receive it“.
  2. God’s choice: This perception teaches that by God’s sovereign will (election), He gives faith to a person, so that they believe that Jesus is God, then He causes them to recognise their sinful condition, and leads them to repentance to eternal salvation;
    • John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
    • Act 11:18 And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
    • 2 Timothy 2:10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
    • Romans 9:13-24 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”
      What shall we say then? Is there any unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
      For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.”
      So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND IN ORDER THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”
      So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
      You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
      On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?
      WILL THE THING MOLDED SAY TO THE MOLDER, “WHY DID YOU MAKE ME LIKE THIS”?
      Or does not the potter have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
      And what if God, wanting to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared for destruction,
      and in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory— even us, whom He also called,
      not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles?

There are two distinctly separate points, that I believe are essential to recognise when examining scriptural doctrine on soteriology. They are firstly God’s sovereignty, and secondly, man’s responsibility. There are many scriptures that I believe can, and have been, misinterpreted in relation to soteriology, when these 2 points have not been applied.

When scripture is taught, or thought to be presenting a means of salvation in conflict to John 1:13, then it has either been misunderstood, or it has been intentionally misrepresented by man, it has not been provided as an alternative contradictory verse by God, He never contradicts Himself.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:11-13

We’re told here that salvation is only by God’s will, not by genetic relationship, so you can’t receive eternal salvation by natural means of inheritance passed from parent to child; and it’s not by a person’s own choice and not by someone else’s choice, but of God.

Colossians 1 reiterates the fact of salvation being by the will of God the Father:

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Who rescued us from the authority of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love,

Colossians 1:12-13

There isn’t any doctrine of man’s choice in these verses, there’s only God the Father’s work, He rescued and transferred us into the kingdom of His Son. Man didn’t rescue, or save himself, or bring himself to life: Colossians 2:13 “And you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions.“

Salvation is dependant on forgiveness, forgiveness isn’t something we decide that God must do for us. Romans 5:10 terms unbelievers as “enemies of God”, an enemy of God has no right or authority to approach God the Father  to tell Him that by their choice, He must forgive them.

By His own will, before the foundation of the earth, God the Father has determined who He will forgive through Jesus, and all that He determines to do is done. John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me…”

With these scriptural statements as foundation of the doctrine of sovereign election by God, and not man, all other scriptures must be viewed relative to this foundational fact.

A few verses that don’t apply to eternal salvation.

There are some verses, including the following ones, that have been mis-applied in support of a “man’s choice” perspective, but they are actually referring to God’s invitation to the Christians to grow in the knowledge of Him and His will, this increasing intimacy of fellowship with God is granted after salvation, it’s not a pre-salvation invitation.

  • Revelation 3:20  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.“.
    This verse is part of a letter written to the Christians at Laodicea, it’s not written to unsaved persons. The Laodicean saints were invited to have intimacy with God through Christ. The invitation is similar to a portion of the poetic genre of Song of Solomon 5:4-6, which tells of the intimacy of relationship between Christ and the Saint’s:
    “I arose to open to my beloved; And my hands dripped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, On the handles of the lock. ‘I opened to my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and passed by! My soul went out to him as he spoke..”.
    All Christians can draw closer to God, the Laodicean saints were described as “wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.” God was calling them to deeper relationship, but they had to open the door, to be closer to Him.
  • In Joshua 24:15 God was calling the tribes of Israel, to decide whether or not they would fulfil their responsibility as God’s chosen people, to serve Him in driving out His enemies, or whether they would serve the god’s of the nations:
    “If it is evil in your sight to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”
  • In Matthew 7, Jesus is speaking to His disciples, He had started speaking to them after He took them aside up the mountain, away from the “large crowds” who “followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.”, as recorded in chapter 4, so in 7:7, He said “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.“.
    Jesus spoke this instruction to His disciples, to teach them and us,  to ask of their heavenly Father in Jesus name, and it’s applicable to all God’s children.

Man’s will.

Adam and Eve are the first example’s of the will of man being opposed to God, they had been given all they needed but chose to disobey, every person born since then has the same will of opposition to God. Romans 9:29 tells of what every person’s destiny would be if God didn’t intervene; every person would end up in the lake of fire (Ref. Jude 1:7), : “And just as Isaiah foretold, “UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A SEED, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.”

Who are the objects of God’s decision.

There’s an old hymn where the writer mentioned a question about eternal salvation in the first verse:

I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me is daily shown,
nor why, with mercy, Christ in love redeemed me for his own…

D. W. Whittle 1883

The writer asks: What’s in man that influenced God’s choice. Part of God’s reason for electing some people, is given in 1 Corinthians 1, and it’s not because of any merit of man, so that no one can boast in His presence:

God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, God has chosen,
yes, and things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are:
That no flesh should glory (boast) in his presence.
It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:27-31

These verses in 1 Corinthians 1, present the eternal salvation of man as being by God’s choice, telling us:
“God has chosen...
That no flesh should glory in his presence... and
It‘s because of Himthat you are in Christ Jesus,“.

In Ephesians 1:4, we’re told that God’s choice was made before our existence:

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love.

Ephesians 1:4

John 1:12 says “…he gave the right to become children of God,“.
Some interpret this as meaning “when God gives a person the right to be a child of God, that means they can choose to accept or reject the right“, but the word “right” or “power” isn’t recognising power independent of God, it’s used in the context of man being enabled to exercise the obedience required to become children of God. Thanks be to God for enabling obedience:

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

Romans 6:17

This empowerment of man to be obedient to God’s commandment to repent, is also spoken of in Colossians 1:12 “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

Apart from God’s provision, no one has the power or right, to choose to become children of the God of all creation. He enables and causes mortal sinful men to believe and repent, through Holy Spirit, by His will. Philippians 2:13 tells:

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

and all those He works in, will be saved, and will never lose their salvation, as we’re told in John 6:37

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

This verse also uses similar reasoning to John 1:12, by Him saying “whoever comes to me“, the reason they are coming to Jesus, is because the Father gave them to Jesus.

Born into…

The earlier quoted verse of John 1:13 clearly reiterates this fact of God’s sovereignty in eternal salvation, by ruling out man’s will, and ending with stating God’s will:

  • We’re not born into God’s family through blood, which is genetic lineage,
  • and not by the will of flesh which is the person’s own will,
  • and not of man, which is the will of a person other than self,
  • but born of God’s will.

We’ve considered some aspects of the will in eternal salvation, but preceding its use, the word “born” is used; it’s spiritual relevance is consistent with it’s use relating to natural conception and birth, which of course occurs without the will of the child.

God’s choice in eternal salvation is also written of in 2 Thessalonians 2.

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord,
because God has chosen you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:13

Although some people speak in terms of them making a decision to be saved, repentance to eternal salvation isn’t presented in God’s Word as an option offered by God, we’re told in Acts 17:30

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Repentance to salvation is God’s commandment to mankind, not an option to be considered.
While people are unrepentant, they’re described as being dead, it’s clear that they can’t become a living person by their own will, they don’t want to come to the light, “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (Ref. John 3:20), only God can quicken them, as we’re told in Ephesians 2:1

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:1-6

We’re told here that when we were dead in trespass and sin, it is God who made us alive, raised us up, and has seated us in heavenly places.
God’s granting of repentance to eternal salvation was recognised by the apostles and Saints in Judea in Acts 11:18

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then God has also to the Gentiles granted repentance to life.“.

Unless God grants faith and repentance, the person is unable to comprehend their condition and need of salvation, and they have no desire to submit to God, we’re told in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish, and in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that the natural man can’t receive the things of God because they’re foolishness to him, because they’re spiritually discerned.

The disciples understood that unless God grants the increase, men’s planting and watering of the seed will not produce life. This is why they were able to shake the dust off their feet and leave a city, if their delivery of the gospel wasn’t received. (ref. Matthew 10:13-15)

God isn’t unjust, He’s merciful.

God’s sovereignty in choosing many for eternal salvation, is a point of concern to some, who see the doctrine as stating that “God chooses to send many people to hell, and many to heaven“; but in Genesis 3, it’s shown that it’s not God’s choice that consigns people to hell, but in fact it’s man’s choice to intently reject God’s will, which subsequently results in them being rightly judged as due the penalty of eternal separation from God.

The first occasion of mankind rejecting God’s will, was by Adam and Eve in the garden, and it hasn’t stopped since then. If God didn’t intervene through Jesus, all people would be eternally separated from God through our own sinful choice, but the mercy of God is revealed in Him choosing many to be saved from the penalty of our selfish disobedience to His law, which has been written in our hearts since our first parents ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And the serpent said to the woman,
“You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,
and that the tree was desirable to make one wise,
so she took from its fruit and ate;
and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Genesis 3:4-6

Adam and Eve had been placed in earthly paradise where there was no sin, no death, no sickness, no sadness, no corruption, no weeds; They were blessed with every physical need and with spiritual purity, but Eve chose to listen to, and accept the devils deceitful words, then they both disobeyed God’s clear commandment and subsequently, because of Adam’s disobedience in his responsibility, sin entered the world, Adam should have told Eve not to take the fruit.
The will of man against God, has been sustained throughout history to the present day, even after salvation.

With man’s disobedient will being the basis of God’s righteous judgment being delivered, the only reason for man being kept from eternal penalty, is the mercy of God through Christ Jesus.

Eternal judgment is the result of dying in a sinful state.
The definition of sin, is not determined by mankind.

The perception can be:
“there are many non-Christians who are kind selfless people, so why should they be sent to hell?”
The reason for people going to hell isn’t the degree of guilt, it’s because they’re unrepentant at the time of their death, that is, they don’t want God to be in their thoughts, they have no time or love for their creator, so they die in their sinful state with their guilt, and with sins pending penalty. We’re told in 1 John 1:8

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:8

Sin isn’t a subjective word, it’s disobedience to God; obedience, is to do what God instructs in these two commandments: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”.
In Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy, he identified various sins and the condition of sinful person’s in the last days:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
For people will be lovers of self,
lovers of money,
proud,
arrogant,
abusive,
disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful,
unholy,
heartless,
unappeasable,
slanderous,
without self-control,
brutal,
not loving good,
treacherous,
reckless,
swollen with conceit,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

2 Timothy 3:1-4

God’s will through Jesus Christ blood,
is the only means to eternal salvation.

But while there is breath, there is often still hope, because Jesus came to reconcile many to God, just as we’re told in 1 Corinthians 6:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

He must increase, I must decrease.

As seen earlier in 1 Corinthians 1:27-31, God has reconciled many to Himself, not only those described as weak, base, despised and are not, but also some who are wise by human standards; some who are powerful; and some who are of noble birth, but regardless of the social status of a person, God’s choice leaves no place for anyone to boast, all glory is to God.

True biblical doctrine glorifies God above all created beings, decreases man, and sets him free.
These truths are expressed in the following verses:

And when all things have been subjected to Him,
then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him,
so that God may be all in all.

1 Corinthians 15:28

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him,
who are called according to His purpose.
For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,
so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those He predestined, He also called;
those He called, He also justified;
those He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say in response to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:28-31

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

In Romans 8, the word foreknew is used; Some people understand it as expressing that “God saw that the person would do something that would please Him, so He predestined them for salvation“, but this isn’t the intent of the word in context here, and if it was, John 1:13 would be a contradiction to Romans 8, and Christ wouldn’t have been needed to make the person acceptable to God, and the righteous works of man wouldn’t be seen by God “as filthy rags” as Isaiah 64:6 tells us.

But, the tense of the word “foreknew”, expresses the intimacy of God’s relationship with His children before they were born, it could be seen as “foreloved”. God knows the time of birth, thoughts, actions and time of death of every person eternally before they were born, but He only “before ordained good works” for His children who He foreknew and predestined to salvation.

God’s Sovereign Right.

  • It’s been asked: “How can God choose to save many and not others?“.
    • As an introductory response to the question, a pastor and teacher was asked: “What’s the most important thing non-Christians need to know”, he replied: “Who God is.”, “And What’s the most important thing Christians need to know”, he replied: “Who God is.”.

      Paul wrote  in Romans 9:20-24
      • But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 
        Doesn‘t the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?
        What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
  • Another question has been asked:
    “How can God allow babies to die, and wickedness and sickness to affect mankind?”
    • I think some more appropriate and respectful questions are:
      1. How could Adam and Eve accept the advice of Satan, instead of the instruction of God, who created everything for His glory and their good, and then expect God to ignore their disobedience and rebellion.
      2. How can mankind turn our back to God and continue in sin, after God has sent His only Son to die for many?
      3. How could Jesus die because of our intentional sins, then go to prepare a place for us so that we will be with Him where we’ll never sin or be sick again?
      4. How can man condemn God for taking infants out of this corrupt world into the eternal joy of His very presence, where He has heavenly responsibilities for them to be engaged with.
  • Given that God has predestined many to salvation, some have asked:
    “Why should we pray for the eternal salvation of people if God has already made His choice ?“.
    • We should pray for people to be saved, so that they do God’s work and have His guidance, wisdom and joy, as soon as possible, so that they too can share the treasures of God with others, living out their days with the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.
    • With God, there’s eternal purpose every minute of every day, which can still bare fruit even after the last breath.

Man’s responsibility is to be prepared to give an account of our eternal hope, to anyone who asks, to preach the gospel by our actions and words, in season and out of season.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12-13

APOverton 15-Feb-2026