SO GREAT SALVATION
All humankind has been included under sin. Sinful man is incapable of saving himself or to stop his sinning. The whole world needed a Saviour. God himself provided the Saviour in the person of his own Son. The Son took upon himself a full human nature, lived among us a perfect sinless life, and offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins on the cross. Rising from the dead assured us that God had forgiven our sins because Jesus paid our penalty. However, everyone is not automatically saved, even though Jesus died for all. In order to benefit from the work of salvation provided by Jesus' death on the cross, we must repent of our sin, trust in his death as our substitute, and receive him to be our personal Saviour. The Bible is filled with many precious promises about this so great salvation:
The list of wonderful promises of salvation seems endless. And this experience of salvation also has many different descriptions: regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, etc. One may even be confused by what it means to be saved. The word salvation is a general term which expresses the whole change that takes place in our lives when we come to Jesus and trust him to save us from our sins. This general term refers to the spiritual journey that begins when we first trust in Christ and ends when we are with him in heaven. The other terms are used to try to explain or emphasize some aspect of that salvation experience. It is good to better understand why our salvation is so very great.
A. Conversion
Often when one is saved we say the person was converted. Conversion is a definite biblical idea, but it has nothing to do with changing religions. Rather, it refers to a change of direction in a person's life. As sinners we are out of favour with God and try to avoid him. The corruption of our moral nature continues to take us away from God. We are like the Prodigal Son heading for a far country away from the father. (Luke 15) But one day the Prodigal came to his sense and returned to his father. Conversion means to "turn around." In salvation we turn around from a course in life that takes us away from God and return to our Heavenly Father. It is a turn to walk with him, rather than away from him. The act of conversion involves repentance and faith. There is no true conversion without repentance (Matthew 4:17; Luke 13:5; Acts 2:38; 3:19) Repentance involves a change of mind, a change of emotion, and a change of will. Sinful man tries to excuse or justify his behaviour that is wrong, refusing to acknowledge God's view. Repentance involves coming into agreement with God, accepting God's standard, acknowledging God is right. (e.g. one should not steal, should tell the truth, love his neighbour, etc.) (Psalms 51:3; Luke 15:17,18; Romans 3:20) Repentance also involves feeling sorry about our sin, regretting the wrong we have done, being filled with remorse over our waywardness. Tears of repentance often accompany this change of feeling. (Psalms 51:1,2; II Corinthians 7:9,10) In addition, repentance involves a change of will. It is not enough to acknowledge our sin, and feel sorry about our sin, but we must turn from our sin. We make the decision to leave our sin and live as God desires and then follow through on that decision. Repentance is a willful choice in the right direction. (Matthew 3:8-11; Acts 1:31,32)
It should be mentioned that the Greek word translated "repentance" does not mean "penance." Doing penance is a requirement of some work on our part to make up for some sin that we have committed. The Bible, however, is clear that our salvation is not based on any works we do. Our salvation is wholly based on the work on the cross that Jesus has done for us. In light of his work, we are called upon to repent, acknowledge our sin, having a change of attitude to end our sin, and choosing to turn from our sin. The act of repentance is itself a gift of God. (Acts 5:31; Acts 11:18; II Timothy 2:25) When we choose to accept the message of the Gospel, God enables us to repent.
Biblical conversion couples repentance with faith. Essentially, biblical faith is knowing what God says, having confidence in what he says, and then acting on what he says. This faith involves the same three elements as repentance. First is the intellectual element, hearing and understanding the basic message of the Gospel: Christ died for our sins. We cannot believe in one of whom we have not heard. (Romans 10:14) This emphasizes the importance of clearly sharing the message of Jesus and his death with people. Second, our heart is overwhelmed by his love as we embrace the truth that on the cross he really did die "for me," "for my sins." We respond to his love with joy and gratitude. This leads us to receive him into our hearts. We place our full trust in him as our Saviour. Our will has made him our choice because he first chose us. (Romans 10:8-11; Hebrews 11:6; James 2:19)
Like repentance, faith too is a gift of God. (Romans 12:3; II Peter 1:1) To be saved is to be converted, by repenting of our sins and having faith in our great Saviour.
B. Justification
The Bible mentions terms like "justification/justified" or "righteous/righteousness" in connection with our salvation.They may not be terms we use very often, but their theological importance is basic to understanding what it means to be saved. Though all have sinned and fall short of what God requires, God declares righteous the one who trusts in Jesus as Saviour. God makes this declaration, not because of what man has done, but because of what Jesus has done for him. Jesus has died in his place on the cross.
When a person believes in Jesus as Saviour, three things happen. (1) The person is credited with the full of righteousness of Christ. (I Corinthians 1:30) Righteousness means one does what he ought to do. Obviously, even believers do not always do right. But because of his faith in Jesus, God counts the righteousness of Jesus as the believer's righteousness. One cannot be considered any more righteous than this. (2) Because God sees the believer now as righteous, rather than as sinful; the penalty for sin is removed. We are forgiven. (Ephesians 1:7) The penalty of sin had been paid by Jesus, thus our guilt and punishment are gone. (3) The one who is now declared righteous is no longer at enmity with God. (Romans 5:9-11) He is accepted in the beloved and restored to full favour. (Ephesians 1:6) God views him just as though he had never sinned.
The Bible clearly teaches that his wonderful declaration of justification is not based on our works. (Romans 3:20-30; James 2:10) Though good works are important to God, we never are able to do enough good deeds to save us. Our salvation produces good works, rather than good works producing salvation. (Ephesians 2:9,10). We try to live righteous lives.
We are justified by God's grace. (Romans 3:21-24; Titus 3:7) God was under no obligation to send his Son to die for us, but out of a heart of love and mercy he graciously paid the penalty for our sin. The basis of our justification is the blood of Jesus which he shed on the cross for us. (Romans 3:24,25; 5:9) Because the blood of God's Son cleanses us from all sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us. (I John 1:7,9) We are justified by faith alone. Faith in Jesus is the only requirement for our being declared righteous by God.
Regeneration
To generate means to begin or to give life. God created man in his own image. It was the beginning of a life intimately connected to God. However, sin severed that sacred relationship. Death entered the realm of human experience. Though physically alive, all were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1) We needed to be regenerated, made spiritually alive again, begin anew with God.
Regeneration is expressed in various ways in the Bible. It is described as a new birth. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that to enter the kingdom of God he must be born again. Just as he was born physically, he must also have a spiritual birth, born of the Spirit. (John 3:3-8) Regeneration is also portrayed as imparting a new nature - a nature that is spiritually alive and in tune with God. (II Peter 1:4) Regeneration also produces a new creation. The old things of our sinful life pass away and all things become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)
All three of these expressions - new birth, new nature, new creation - refer to the new spiritual life that comes to us through faith in Christ. (John 3:14,16) We become children of God by the will of God, not by our own will, action, or effort. (John 1:13) Regeneration is only possible because Christ died to forgive us of our sins and rose again to live unto God. By faith we died with Christ and are raised to new spiritual life. (Romans 6:4-10) The Word of God (James 1:18) and the Spirit of God (John 3:5,6) are the instruments through which our regeneration is accomplished.
The primary result of regeneration is the impartation of new spiritual life. With this new life comes the privilege of being called the children of God. (John 1:12) We become heirs of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:17) And as children of God we also have the responsibility of walking worthy of our call. (Ephesians 4:1) In choosing Jesus as Saviour, we have chosen life!
Union with Christ
Our salvation is also expressed in the Bible as a union between the believer and Christ, our Saviour. Frequently the Bible speaks of the believer being "in Christ" or Christ being in the believer. (John 14:20; Romans 8:1,10; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:27)
This is not a pantheistic union, whereby we are absorbed into the Divine Spirit. The human spirit is not destroyed or overwhelmed by the union. It is a spiritual union vital in communicating spiritual life to our soul. (I Corinthians 6:17) From without no one is able to dissolve this union. (Romans 8:35-39) The Bible uses various analogies to help us understand this intimate union:
These analogies show that union with Christ is a stabilizing and productive, loving and caring, guiding and supportive, and life-giving union.
Adoption
The Bible speaks of our great salvation in terms of adoption. (Romans 8:15-25; Galatians 4:1-7) Two main ideas are presented by this analogy of adoption. First, it reminds us that we have been made part of God's family by His choice not ours. (John 1:12,13) We did not naturally belong to his family. From eternity Jesus has been his "one and only Son." (John 3:16) Through the gracious work of our Saviour, we are brought into a filial relationship with God. We who are creations of God, were once at enmity with God, now are privileged to call him "Father." (Romans 8:15; I John 3:1)
Secondly, the biblical concept of adoption involves placing the believer as an adult son. The idea is the believer's position of freedom before the Old Testament law. The law is holy, just, and good, but operates externally. (Romans 7:12) It is like a guide telling a small child what to do or not to. But in adoption, with Christ's Spirit living in us, motivation to live for and serve God now comes from within.
C. Sanctification
God is holy; he wants us to be holy too. (I Peter 1:15,16) Sanctification is the development of holiness within the believer. The Holy Spirit is at work in us to sanctify us, to make us holy. There are two sides to sanctification:
Separation from evil
Holiness and wickedness cannot co-exist in the life of the believer. This does not mean that believer never sins. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. (I John 1:8). However, the Apostle John says that "if we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." (I John 1:6) Or, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin." (John 3:9) Or "Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God." (I John 3:10) If we are to become holy as God demands, we must consciously flee evil, shun the wrong, stop walking in the darkness of sin. We are saved by faith, and sin erodes faith.
Dedication to God
We will never be able to separate ourselves from sin without an ever-increasing dedication to God. More and more God must be given his rightful place in our lives, the central place. Our Saviour must be made our Lord. When a holy God rules our lives, we too will become holy.
Holiness is not optional for the believer. We are to "make every effort"... to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14) We pursue many things in life: fame, comfort, happiness, money, power, possessions, etc. We need to devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness. The Scripture admonishes us, "so be holy in all you do." (I Peter 1:15)
Holiness is a matter of the heart not externals. However, the condition of our inner spiritual life will show itself outwardly. The fruit of our lives shows the quality of our tree, our spiritual lives. But the Scripture warns us not to compare ourselves among ourselves. It is not wise, because we all have different knowledge, backgrounds, and experiences. While we all have the same starting point in regard to sanctification; we are all at different stages in its outward expression. Making spiritual comparisons with one another can easily lead to either complacency or discouragement. We think we are "holy enough" or that we will "never be what God wants us to be." Any comparison made should be with Jesus our example and with where we were before. Conformity to the image of Christ is our goal. (Romans 8:29) And our desire is to be more like him today than we were last year.
The biblical terms that describe our salvation which we have looked at earlier - conversion, regeneration, justification, union with Christ, and adoption - all happen at the same time. Immediately when a person trusts in Jesus as Saviour all of these take place. This is also true of sanctification. Christ "has become for us...holiness." (I Corinthians 1:30) In other words, the holiness of Jesus has been credited to us. Thus the Bible refers to believers as "saints" or literally "holy ones" even though they in practice may not always seem so holy. This is often referred to as initial or beginning sanctification. However, the Bible also tells us there is a progressive element in sanctification. When we first trust in Jesus, we begin a spiritual journey that transforms us into being more and more like him. We continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. (II Peter 3:18) This spiritual journey is not complete until Christ returns. (I John 3:2; Jude 24) However, all the time as we are making progress in personal holiness, we are covered with the 'canopy of Christ' perfect holiness credited to us.
The goal for every believer is to be conformed to the image of Jesus. As sincere believers we really do want to become holy as he is holy. However, few believers struggle with temptation only to give into sinful thoughts and deeds. They seem to take steps forward only to fall back again. Making progress in sanctification often seems to be really difficult for them. Part of the problem may be that they spend more time and effort trying to resist the Devil and sin and not enough time in submitting or yielding themselves to God. (James 4:7) As with every aspect of our salvation, though we are not passive, sanctification is God's work in us, not our own work.
Our actions are controlled by our attitudes and desires. These in turn are controlled by our will. Christ has freed us from the power of sin. We no longer must be servants of sin. Our wills are free to choose God and his will. Thus, the Apostle Paul says: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God...." (Romans 6:12,13) If we continually choose God, he will enable us to make progress in holiness. We have an advantage that Adam did not have. The Holy Spirit dwells within the believer. Therefore, God is constantly at work in us to will and to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:12,13) Through Christ the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) As we focus upon Jesus, the Holy Spirit is transforming us into Christ's likeness. (II Corinthians 3:17,18) In this important work of sanctification God is on our side. We can have confidence that he who began a good work in us will complete it, so that when Christ returns we will be like him. (Philippians 1:6; I John 3:2)
We must not "ignore such a great salvation," but live it our daily with thanksgiving. (II Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:3) For so great salvation "is found in no one else," only Jesus. (Acts 4:12)