Three Schools of Thought on Salvation
Thomas Allen
The three primary schools of salvation are predestination, unconditional salvation, and conditional salvation.
Adherents of the predestination school believe that God decided whom He would save and whom He would condemn before creation. Faith in Jesus, good works, repentance, baptism, etc. are irrelevant. Adherents of this school tend to place heavy stress on good works to prove to themselves and others that they are among the saved. Nevertheless, they do not know if they are saved until after they die.
Proponents of the unconditional salvation school claim that salvation depends solely on faith (or trust) in Jesus for salvation unto everlasting life. As for salvation, works are irrelevant. Works merely determine a person’s status or rank in the age to come. According to this school, a person is guaranteed salvation that cannot be lost — no matter what the believer does after believing in Jesus. Therefore, salvation is assured.
Proponents of conditional salvation believe that salvation unto eternal life depends on more than belief in Jesus. It also depends on works. To be saved unto everlasting life, a person must not only believe in Jesus, he must continue to believe in him until the moment he dies. Moreover, to be saved, a person must constantly live in obedience to the commandments of God. Only by continuously believing and obeying the Gospel until death can one receive everlasting life. Thus, adherents of this school stress doing good works to assure their salvation. However, according to this school, a person does not know if he is saved until after he dies. Salvation is assured but not guaranteed.
To support their claim, adherents of the unconditional cite the following verses among others:
– John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life."
– John 3:18: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
– John 6:47: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
– John 10:28: "and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand."
Unconditional salvation adherents read these verses literally. According to these verses, salvation depends solely on belief in Jesus. Once a person believes in Jesus, he is guaranteed everlasting life in the age to come. That is, he cannot lose his salvation.
However, proponents of conditional salvation do not read these verses literally. They add conditions to them. Thus, for example, they read John 6:47 as “he that believes on me [Jesus] has eternal life if he continuously obeys God and continuously believes in Jesus, that is if he preservers in his faith in Jesus and his obedience to the commandments of God until the moment that he dies.”
Likewise, predestinationists do not read these verses literally. They read John 6:47 as “he that believes on me [Jesus] has eternal life if God has predestined him to eternal life.”
Some of the verses that adherents of the conditional salvation school cite to support their doctrine are:
– John 15:10: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love."
– John 15:6: "If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers."
– John 15:14: "You are my friends if you do what I command you."
– Hebrews 3:14: "We share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end."
– Colossians 1:23: "He has now reconciled . . . , provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel which you heard."
Conditional salvation proponents read these verses as requiring continuous obedience to the commandments of Jesus and God as necessary for salvation. However, unconditional salvation proponents read them as concerning a person’s status or rank in the age to come.
A major difference between the unconditional salvation school and the conditional salvation school is that the unconditional salvation school preaches salvation by faith alone, i.e., salvation by faith without works. On the other hand, the conditional salvation school preaches salvation by faith plus works, i.e., faith alone does not save a person. Consequently, the unconditional salvation school guarantees salvation, and, therefore, salvation is assured. The conditional salvation school assures salvation but does not guarantee it because no one knows if his faith and obedience will preserve until he dies or that his faith and obedience are sufficient to earn everlasting life.
To summarize, according to the predestination school, salvation depends solely on God’s arbitrary choice and has nothing to do with faith in Jesus or obedience to the commandments of God. According to the unconditional salvation school, salvation depends solely on faith in Jesus. According to the conditional salvation school, salvation depends on faith in Jesus and obedience to the commandments of God; moreover, a person’s faith and obedience must be continuous until he dies.
Copyright © 2021 by Thomas Coley Allen.
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