Sin and Salvation

by Lesslie Newbigin

The author's hope is that this small book may help others to enter more fully into the mystery and joy of our common salvation.

Genres: Christian

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Bishop James Edward Lesslie Newbigin was a British theologian, missiologist, missionary and author. Though originally ordained within the Church of Scotland, Newbigin spent much of his career serving as a missionary in India and became affiliated with the Church of South India and the United Reformed Church, becoming one of the Church of South India's first bishops. A prolific author who wrote on a wide range of theological topics, Newbigin is best known for his contributions to missiology and ecclesiology. He is also known for his involvement in both the dialogue regarding ecumenism and the Gospel and Our Culture movement. Many scholars also believe his work laid the foundations for the contemporary missional church movement, and it is said his stature and range is comparable to the "Fathers of the Church".

Reviews

[Jennifer Freitag · Rating 2 out of 5]

Newbigin and I failed to see eye to eye on some fundamentals regarding the topic of sin and salvation, namely because Newbigin began upon grounds of an Arminian philosophy, and then proceeded to try approaching Calvinist conclusions, which logically one cannot do. Part and parcel with this process, Newbigin laid God's love as his essential aspect, by which he then worked to define God's image in man, whereas I argue that God's essential aspect is his holiness, of which his love is but a part of the summation of his perfection. However, one comes to very different conclusion when one lays either love or holiness as the fundamentals of our relationship with God and his with us, and this also set me at odds with Newbigin throughout the treatise. I respect Newbigin's arguments in favour of man's return to a loving, obedient nature toward God (are we not told that the greatest commandments are to love the Lord our God, and to love our neighbour, who is also made in God's image?), but I also hold that God's revelation of himself has been foremostly one of holiness, and that is the yard-stick by which all things will be measured when they come before him.

As far as the possibility of our becoming a fallen creation and our possibility of being redeemed, I feel Newbigin would have been better served to introduce the law of federal headship (covered by Paul at length in his letter to the Romans), which states that God's construction of the race of man dictated that in Adam all would be represented (subsequently fallen, by Adam's choice to disobey), and then again represented in Jesus Christ (subsequently redeemed, by Jesus's obedience to the Father). This amply explains how the first sin became our own and damned the whole human race, and how the sacrifice of one man for the sins of his people would then result in the redemption of that people. If that had been covered in the text as it is represented in the Scriptures, a great deal of beating around the bush might have been avoided.

[Scott Kohler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a very clear account of the heart of the Christian faith. Although the book is called sin and salvation, Newbigin certainly points to the broadness of the biblical story from creation to new creation and gives a brief but helpful doctrine of God as well. The centre of the book focusses on the work of Christ as seen through the many biblical lenses on the atonement. Newbigin’s ecclesiology (given in more length in his book The Household of God) leads to a slightly different focus in the chapter on How Salvation Becomes Ours than then is usually found in reformed or evangelical theologies. Faith is still emphasized, but it comes after a brief explanation of the church as Christ’s body and the locus of salvation, and thus faith occupies a slightly different place in the whole scheme.

Sin and Salvation was written as a tool for teaching new leaders in the church of South India, so it is intentionally aimed at a basic level. The theology here is by no means rudimentary but the intended audience lends this short book a flavour very similar to that of CS Lewis. Great images abound, and the sense of passing along what has previously been received is never lost. Even more than Lewis, though, Newbigin keeps the work of Christ explicitly at the heart of every page.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written for church workers and village teachers in South India, this book is an outstanding introduction to Christianity. Chapter VII (“How Salvation Becomes Ours”) is especially exceptional. Sadly, this book is out of print and difficult to get a hold of – otherwise, it would be a fabulous piece to give to those processing Christianity.

[Shiju · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have ever read and by and far the simplest. Heard that the book was first written by him in Tamil for the use of missionaries in Tamilnadu to explain the concepts with simple examples. It was later translated to English.