Salvation

What is salvation?

Salvation is an essential doctrine in Christianity.

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.

Why do I need salvation?

The Big Picture of Salvation

God created man for a loving relationship. A proper relationship demands the freedom to choose the relationship. To test man’s love, God provided the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2-3) Failure to pass the test resulted in death. In the garden, God provided every good thing for man. When man ate the fruit of the tree, they chose evil, which brought sin into their life. The consequence of the sin was death, both physical (eventually) and spiritual (immediately). Descendants inherit man’s fallen nature. In His infinite love, God has chosen to redeem man through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Salvation occurs when man makes the choice to accept God’s free offer of redemption and reenters a loving relationship with Him.

What are the essential aspects of the Doctrine of Salvation?

  1. Every person inherits the fallen nature, resulting in separation from God along with the consequence of eternal death.
  2. God made the path of redemption/salvation through God the Son – Jesus Christ’s perfect sacrifice.
  3. Those who accept God’s redemptive plan will, in one act of faithful obedience, receive forgiveness and justification along with a new eternal life and a connection with God through the Holy Spirit. (Like Adam died with one act of disobedience, we are given new life with one act a faithful obedience.)

How can I be saved?

Salvation occurs when person makes the choice to accept God’s free offer of redemption and reenters a loving relationship with Him.

Steps in Salvation:

  1. A person must first believe in God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit).
  2. Second, the person must recognize and confess the fallen nature they inherited that separates them from a relationship with God and the need for redemption and restoration.
  3. Third, the person must by grace given to them by God, demonstrate faith to believe on Jesus’ sacrifice as the only method of redemption.
  4. Fourth, the person must call on Jesus requesting His forgiveness, accept His sacrifice as full payment of all sins, and receive the Holy Spirit as the seal of salvation.
  5. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit transforms the fallen man destined for eternal death into a redeemed man with eternal life. A loving relationship is restored with God and should be cultivated for growth to occur.

Scripture Reading:

  • For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 NKJV)

  • For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV)

  • As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
    “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

    Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

    But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

    Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:10-28 NKJV)

The Roman Road to Salvation

  1. There is none righteous, no, not one. (3:10)
  2. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (3:23)
    Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. (5:12) 
  3. For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (6:23)
  4. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (5:8)
  5. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (10:9-10)
  6. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (10:13)

A video from Got Questions Ministries (GotQuestions.org)

Are there other methods of salvation?

According to the Bible, Jesus is the only way to redemption.

  • Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

  • let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)

  • For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

How can I know I am saved?

Salvation occurs when the Holy Spirit enters an individual’s soul. We restore the relationship with God that Adam lost. A true disciple experiences a relationship with God, which serves as proof of salvation.

  • For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:13-17)

How can I remain saved? Can I lose my salvation?

God transforms true disciples when the Holy Spirit indwells them. The restored relationship makes disciples children of the Father. Jesus gives disciples eternal life, and the Holy Spirit seals them, guaranteeing redemption. Disciples cannot lose salvation, since works do not earn salvation, so works cannot lose salvation. Once disciples are children, they are forever children. God gives disciples a new nature, like caterpillars becoming butterflies. Butterflies cannot turn back into caterpillars even if they walk on the ground.

  • Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

  • In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

  • My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)

Once I am saved, what do I do next?

Saved Christians should fulfill the purpose for which God created them and desire to live in a loving relationship with God. Relationships require cultivation for growth. Disciples need to spend time with God so they can learn about Him and the plans He has prepared for their life.

We built this website for disciples to learn about and grow in their relationship with God. Please use it as a free resource and discover all the aspects of discipleship!

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