Contemporary evangelical systematic theology treatments on the doctrine of salvation often centers on historical tensions between Pelagian/Augustinian or Arminian/Calvinist viewpoints. Specifically, when discussing salvation by grace, theologians center discussions on grace on the Pelagian/Augustinian or Arminian/Calvinist positions on the role of humanity in salvation. This results in discussions on grace in salvation within the context of human depravity, namely the articulation of the nature of the role of humans in their salvation. Consequently, the doctrine of grace begins with and builds from the reality of human depravity, which makes saving grace a necessity. Grace is explained as a post-fall reality that happens on account of human inabilities due to sin and depravity. Consequently, the outcome of considering grace primarily within the context of human depravity hinders understanding God’s saving grace first in accordance with divine ontology. Furthermore, other aspects of salvation, such as election, begin with human depravity and not a trinitarian understanding of divine grace.
Beginning soteriology from theology proper helps center soteriology on the triune God in ways that provide a better understanding of salvation and elements of salvation such as grace. The doctrinal tendency to consider grace in relation to depravity limits viewing grace as an act of the triune God that arises from his self-giving nature and as the central disposition by which God interacts with humanity. This paper argues that the appropriate starting point for understanding grace is the triune God’s freedom and self-giving nature and not first and primarily a response to human depravity. To demonstrate the appropriateness of beginning with a trinitarian approach to grace, this paper explains the effect a trinitarian approach to grace has on understanding the nature of grace in salvation and how this move impacts other aspects of salvation, specifically election. Approaching grace first from the theology proper leads to the conclusion that the grace of God is an act of God arising from his self-giving and free nature whereby his redeeming work is built on his gratuitous and free nature making salvation by works incoherent with human ontology and furthermore makes election first about his freedom and graciousness.
I will prove the thesis in three steps. First, I discuss the tendency to understand and explain grace in relation to human depravity in soteriology in contemporary systematic theology and identify the consequences of such theological moves. I will pay particular attention to how this approach to grace impacts the doctrine of election. Second, I will propose a trinitarian approach to the doctrine of grace that sees grace first as an outworking of the ontology of God, specifically his freedom and self-giving nature. Furthermore, this section considers the ontological distinction between the creator and the creature as the foundation for understanding the necessity of grace in the relationship between the creator and his creation. Finally, I will demonstrate how a trinitarian approach to grace leads to a view of election that emphasizes God’s eternal election as a product of his freedom and grace and not first as a consequence of human depravity.