Bible & Christianity › The apostles & the New Testament › Crucifixion of Jesus under Pontius Pilate
Salvation through Christ
1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (c. AD 54)· Teaching or doctrine· Church, doctrine & the world
Faith & scriptureHeld by believers on faith and scripture; history can neither confirm nor rule it out.
The core Christian claim that through Jesus' death and resurrection God rescues people from sin and death and restores them to himself.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Paul hands on the earliest summary, about AD 54: 'Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures... he was buried... he was raised on the third day' (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). The New Testament uses many pictures for it: a ransom paid (Mark 10:45), a sacrifice like those in the Temple, a debt cancelled, an acquittal in court, adoption into God's family. For many, John 3:16 sums it up: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son'.
Why it matters
It is the heart of the Christian message. Disputes over how it is received, by faith alone or through faith, sacraments and works, split the Western church at the Reformation.
Faith and history
A faith claim history cannot test. Historians can show the belief is very early: Paul says he 'received' the creed of Christ dying 'for our sins', probably within a few years of the crucifixion.
Questions and debates
How exactly the cross saves was never fixed by a church-wide council. Traditions stress ransom, substitution or moral example; Orthodoxy speaks of theosis, being made like God by grace.
Connections (3)
▸Sin and original sin is the problem answered by Salvation through ChristFaith & scripture
The connection
Genesis 3 tells how Adam and Eve's disobedience brought death and broke humanity's bond with God. Paul pairs Adam and Christ directly: 'as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive' (1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:12–19). Salvation is Christianity's answer to the problem sin creates.
When and where
Paul's letters to Corinth (about AD 54) and Rome (about AD 57); Augustine developed it around AD 400 into the doctrine of original sin.
How do we know?
The link is made explicitly in the New Testament. As theology it is a faith claim; history can only trace how the idea developed.
Questions and debates
Churches differ on what is inherited: Catholics and Protestants, following Augustine, speak of inherited guilt or corruption; Orthodox stress inherited mortality instead. Jewish readers of Genesis see no 'original sin'.
▸Crucifixion of Jesus under Pontius Pilate is, Christians believe, the source of Salvation through ChristFaith & scripture
The connection
Christians believe Jesus' death was not just a tragedy but God's way of dealing with sin. Paul calls it the core message: 'Christ died for our sins' (1 Corinthians 15:3). Jesus said he came 'to give his life as a ransom for many' (Mark 10:45), and the cross became the symbol of salvation.
When and where
The crucifixion in Jerusalem, about AD 30 or 33; its meaning set out in Paul's letters of the 50s, in Hebrews and in the Gospels.
How do we know?
The death is history; that it saves is faith. Historians can date the belief very early, because Paul quotes a creed he had received.
Questions and debates
How the cross saves has several models: ransom (early church), satisfaction of God's honor (Anselm, 1098), penal substitution (Reformers), moral example (Abelard). Orthodoxy stresses Christ's victory over death.
▸Salvation through Christ comes, Paul taught, by Grace: salvation as God's free giftFaith & scripture
The connection
For Paul, salvation cannot be earned by keeping the Law; it comes as God's gift, received by trusting Christ: 'by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God' (Ephesians 2:8). Good works follow as the fruit, not the price.
When and where
Paul's letters of the AD 50s–60s, especially Galatians, Romans and Ephesians; restated by Augustine around 400 and the Reformers in the 1500s.
How do we know?
Explicit in Paul's letters; as theology, a faith claim. Historians trace how the doctrine was argued, from Pelagius to the Council of Trent.
Questions and debates
Churches disagree on faith, works and sacraments: the Reformers taught 'faith alone'; Trent (1547) rejected that formula; a 1999 Catholic–Lutheran Joint Declaration found basic agreement.