Beyond the Salvation Wars
Why Both Protestants and Catholics Must Reimagine How We Are Saved
About
God has provided salvation, but when does it begin? What is required of us? Can we lose it? These and other disputed questions have divided Christians for centuries. Matthew W. Bates has already shown that the gospel is about King Jesus and that faith includes allegiance. In Beyond the Salvation Wars, he unpacks additional truths from the Bible and the early church to describe how salvation happens.
Bates offers a new model, encouraging Protestants and Catholics toward long-term unity. But his proposal contains strong medicine: it doesn't sugarcoat current Protestant and Catholic errors but diagnoses with precision for the future health of the church.
By using accessible writing and stories, Bates shows what Scripture teaches about baptism, election, regeneration, assurance, and justification. A companion to his previous book, Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ, this book will appeal to those who want to discover core truths about how we are saved--for their personal journey as well as for final Christian unity. A discussion guide with questions for classes and groups will be available.
Contents
Introduction
1. Entering the Combat Zone
2. The More Explicit Gospel
3. Right and Wrong about the Gospel
4. Retooling the Protestant Critique of Catholicism
5. Is Baptism Saving?
6. Why Election and Regeneration Are False Starts
7. Once Saved, Always Saved?
8. Disrupting the Order of Salvation
9. Justification Remodeled
10. Beyond the Salvation Wars
Index
Endorsements
"It is easy to critique other people's theologies, but are we also willing to carefully examine and critique our own? This book brings the central belief about the kingship of the crucified and risen Jesus to the center of the salvation wars, and it invites us to reconsider justification, works, baptism, election, and more. Bates is an equal opportunity offender, but all for the good purpose of turning us back to Scripture to reconsider the true gospel and our allegiance to the king."
Nijay K. Gupta, Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
"Matthew Bates offers a courageous proposal for a rapprochement between Catholics and Protestants on what it means to be saved. He looks for a way forward amid differences on election, baptism, justification, and assurance. A bold proposal for healing a rift in the church that is now nearly five hundred years old! At the very least, a great way to start conversations between Protestants and Catholics on finding a way forward toward unity."
Michael F. Bird, deputy principal, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia
"This discussion of King Jesus theology is a foundation for future disciple-making conversations. It is a bold theological proposal that challenges both Protestants and Catholics. It reflects the best current scholarship on the gospel, faith, baptism, and embodied obedience. I commend it as a must-read for scholars, Bible students, and disciple-making leaders."
Bobby Harrington, pastor, author, and CEO of renew.org and discipleship.org
The Author
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Matthew W. Bates
Matthew W. Bates (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. He is the author of Gospel Allegiance, Salvation by Allegiance Alone, and Why the Gospel?, which won a 2024...
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