Paul's Soteriology in Thessalonians

Last evening I thought I'd do a study on both the letters to the Thessalonians.  Specifically, I wanted to see what can be gleaned from those two letters concerning Paul's soteriology.  

There wasn't a lot; only 5 passages.  But those 5 provide an interesting summary which can used as an interpretive key to Paul's larger works.

So let's dive in!

Passage 1: 

"God chose you as the first-fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.  To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 2Thes 2:13-14

In this one Paul says his audience was called through the Gospel.  And, having responded to this call, they are being saved through sanctification by the Holy Spirit.  Sanctification is the word we use for God purifying us and making us more holy.  So the key thing here is first that salvation is the response to a call, and second that our becoming holy is identified as how we are saved.

Passages 2 and 3:

"We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." - 2Thes 1:11-12 

"Among the churches of God, we ourselves boast of your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and afflictions that you are enduring.  This is evidence of the righteous judgement of God, unto you being counted worthy of being counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer." - 2Thes 1:4-5

The key point in these next two passages is that Paul says that God is making the audience worthy both of the call they received and of the kingdom of God.  Normally we would reject any notion of being "worthy" of God's gifts, but here Paul says that God indeed makes us worthy of these great things by sanctifying us - by making us holy.

Passages 4 and 5: 

"May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1Thes 5:23

"May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all - (as we do for you) - so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." - 1Thes 3:12-13

These last two passages talk about how God sanctifies us and what that means for us on the day of judgement.  God sanctifies us by filling our hearts with love.  And by doing so, He makes it so that on the day of our judgement we will be found blameless.   

Putting it Together:

The overall picture when adding these passages together looks something like this;

God calls us through the proclamation of the Gospel.  Then through the grace merited by Jesus and through the work of the Holy Spirit, He saves us by filling our hearts with love - thereby sanctifying us and making us blameless in His sight.  In doing so, He also makes us worthy of the calling we received and of inheriting the Kingdom.

Using this framework goes a long way to explaining how Paul's view of salvation is the Catholic view of salvation.