There is a doctrine Christians enjoy that is rich beyond comprehension. It is a doctrine in which each believer can rejoice and relish. There is a danger, however, as to how a believer might respond to this doctrine. The older he gets, the more he may either appreciate it, even cherish it, or there is the possibility that he may take it for granted. The doctrine is soteriology. It is the doctrine of our salvation. The majesty of this doctrine must first be established in its origin. Salvation, as the Reformers would say, is “outside ourselves.” That is, since salvation is of God and only of God, two things are true. First, man can thus take no credit for it. Second, it is only by God’s grace that salvation can be attained by man. Working for or trying to earn salvation is categorically out! Beyond the origin of salvation is the richness of its content. The Bible uses at least five different words to cover the doctrine of salvation. These terms are: justification, redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness and sonship. Justification means that we are declared righteous before God. We are not innocent of our sins, but we are judicially declared righteous because of what Christ has done for us on Calvary. Redemption means that God has paid the ransom for our sin through his Son. Reconciliation means that though we were once so far removed from fellowship with God because of our sinful condition, God in His grace restored us in fellowship with Him. Again because His Son has become our mediator. Once we were enemies of God; now we are friends with God! Forgiveness is the provision we enjoy of standing before a holy God with the enormous debt of our sin and experiencing the graciousness of our Father to pay our debt in full. Sonship is the obvious result of all of the above: we get to be called (and indeed are) children of God. Every need we had in our sinful state has been taken care of by God in His grace through the means of our salvation. “For it is by grace that you are saved, through faith, it is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” When all is said and done, there is only one thing that a child of God can say to His Heavenly Father about his salvation: “Thank You!”