Page "Christianity" Paragraph 35

Modern Christian churches tend to be much more concerned with how humanity can be saved from a universal condition of sin and death than the question of how both Jews and Gentiles can be in God's family.

According to both Catholic and Protestant doctrine, salvation comes by Jesus ' substitutionary death and resurrection.

The Catholic Church teaches that salvation does not occur without faithfulness on the part of Christians ; converts must live in accordance with principles of love and ordinarily must be baptized.

Martin Luther taught that baptism was necessary for salvation, but modern Lutherans and other Protestants tend to teach that salvation is a gift that comes to an individual by God's grace, sometimes defined as " unmerited favor ", even apart from baptism.