Jesus of Nazareth was a man
accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among
you through him… this man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan… you,
with the help of lawless Gentiles, put him to death… but God raised him from
the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on
him… God has raised this Jesus to life,
and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received
from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see
and hear… God has made this Jesus, whom you put to death, both Lord [kurios; master] and Messiah… Repent and
be baptized… in the name of Messiah Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (from Acts 2:22-38)
By this gospel you are saved… that
the Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures… If the Messiah
has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins… If only
for this life we have hope in the Messiah, we are to be pitied more than all
people. But the Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead… Since death came
through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man… as in
Adam all die, so in the Messiah all will be made alive… Then the end will come
when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all
dominion, authority and power… The last enemy to be destroyed is death… then
the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everthing under him, so
that God may be all in all. (from 1 Cor 15:1-28)
4th and 5th century
articulations regarding salvation
“Now this is the catholic (i.e.,
universal) faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity,
neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being [neque
substantiam seperantes]. … Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son;
almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one
who is almighty. … And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or
less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and
coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three
persons. Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity. … For
this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ,
God's Son, is both God and man … existing fully as God, and fully as man with a
rational soul and a human body; equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to
the Father in humanity… This is the catholic [universal] faith;
which except a man believe truly and firmly, he cannot be saved.” (Athanasian
Creed – Circa 5th century)
If anyone does not say of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that there is one godhead, strength, majesty, and
power, one glory and dominion, one reign, and one will and truth: he is a
heretic [is not saved]. (Council of Rome, 382 AD)
