Paul's Message of Salvation

According to Paul no man is entirely good and for this reason all people deserve God’s punishment. However, they can avoid this punishment and be saved if they believe in Jesus Christ. All Christians do have to keep to the Law of Christ.

This message does bring Paul into conflict with most of the Jews from his time, because they thought that God would save them anyway, even without believing in Jesus Christ.

In Romans 1–3, Paul makes it clear that all people sin. This goes for Jews and non-Jews. Because all people sin, they all deserve God’s punishment.

But God is good and because of his goodness (“mercy”) people can be saved (“justified”). Everyone can be saved, but only in one way, by believing in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:27-30; Galatians 2:15-17).

His message of salvation brings Paul into conflict with most of the Jews of his time. They thought that they would be saved anyway. After all, they were God’s people. They also know exactly what God wants from them, because it is written in the Law that Moses received from God on Mount Sinai.

Paul has a very different idea about this. According to him, the Jews themselves also break God’s commandments (Romans 2:17-24; Galatians 3:19-25). They also deserve God’s punishment and they too can only be saved if they believe in Jesus Christ.

Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they repent and are baptised. They now belong to God and Jesus Christ and must keep to the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). According to Paul, this law can be summarised as follows: love the people around you (Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5:14).