The Essentials of Salvation
What is Salvation and what does it take to get it?
The Greek word translated into English as salvation literally means to heal, preserve, or make whole. It’s always used in connection with the judgment coming at the end of our lives as our Righteous God requires recompense for our sins. The penalty for sin is to be banished to a place of eternal separation from God: a place of solitary confinement with no hope of release ever. The Bible describes salvation as an event that immediately and irrevocably changes our destiny from this eternal separation to eternal life in God’s presence. It happens the moment we ask in faith, before anything good or bad has happened that would either commend or condemn us, and is made possible through a pardon purchased for us with the life of God’s son, our Lord Jesus.
Ephe 1:13-14 is especially clear. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed you were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance …” We hear and believe and immediately the Lord marks us with the promised Holy Spirit and guarantees our place in His Eternal Kingdom. The Greek word translated deposit actually means earnest money and is a legally binding obligation to perform just like an earnest money deposit in the real estate industry today. It requires Him to follow through on His promise to us.
What About Those Who Hear But Don’t Believe?
Nowhere in Scripture have I found a verse that promises salvation even to those who have heard the Gospel but don’t believe and therefore don’t ask for it. Quite the contrary in fact. In John 3:3 we read “… no one can see the Kingdom of Heaven unless he is born again.” And in Romans 10:9-10 “if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (regarded as though innocent) and with your mouth that you confess and are saved (delivered from judgment).” Asking God for deliverance is the confirmation that you believe He can and will grant it. This is the issue in Matt 7:21 where some who call Him Lord are excluded from the kingdom. They missed the invitation in Matt 7:7-8 to ask, seek and knock and therefore know Him as Lord but not as their Savior. There is a big difference. John 3:18 states plainly that those who don’t believe stand condemned. 2 Thes 2:10 agrees. “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” So much for those who hear but don’t ask. Our need for a Savior to deliver us from judgment is so self-evident that the Bible actually uses the same Greek word for disobedience as it uses for unbelief.
What Those Who Don’t Hear And Therefore Don’t Ask
This self evident need is described in Romans 1:18-20 where man is left without excuse. Anyone who looks at the creation should be able to comprehend that there is a God. But even a cursory study of the nature and character of God will lead the most casual student to conclude that He will not require of someone that which He has not made possible. Therefore the mentally incompetent, the underage child, the “pygmies in Africa” are only responsible for what they have received and can comprehend. With God accountability is always a function of privilege. The more (or less) you’ve been privileged to receive, the more (or less) you’re responsible for knowing. (Read ) Every child is born saved (Matt 18:10-11), but after reaching the age of accountability must exercise his or her agency and consciously choose to remain so (Rom. 7:9). It’s the sole purpose of our lives.
Since asking is such a simple thing, and since all who ask receive it’s an enormous victory for Satan to have convinced so many that they needn’t do so. If we find out we didn’t need to ask and did so anyway, what have we risked? But if we find out that we needed to and didn’t, then what? “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom but only he who does the will of my father.” (Matt 7:21) “For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40). Remember, asking confirms belief.
Salvation and Sanctification
By the way, don’t confuse salvation with sanctification like some do. While Salvation is an event that changes our destiny, Sanctification is a life long process by which we are conformed to the likeness of our Lord. It’s really only complete at our resurrection. Note the comparison in Hebrews 10:14 “Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever (salvation) those who are being made holy (sanctification).” In the grand scheme of things, the two are actually meant to go in tandem. First comes Salvation a gift given freely and irrevocably to all who ask in faith, assuring Eternal Life with God. Next comes Sanctification, the process of living our lives in submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit here on Earth.
Obedience to the Spirit’s guidance brings the dual rewards of a more fulfilling life here and the promise of special rewards in Eternity (Read
). Believers are admonished to obey God’s commands both as evidence of our faith (James 1:22 & 2:14-17) and in a show of gratitude for what we’ve been given. Disobedience can trigger earthly consequences and the loss of rewards in eternity, but does not put the believer’s salvation at risk (1 Cor. 3:10-15).
Who’s Your Daddy?
Look at it this way. Salvation brings adoption into God’s family (John 1:12 & Gal 4:4), and once we’re His children we’re His children forever. Through disobedience we can strain the relationship just as disobedience to our earthly parents does, and sometimes even our ability to communicate can be disrupted. This is called being out of fellowship with God. With our earthly parents, the relationship can remain strained for years, and in some cases may never be healed, but even so we’ll always be their children. So it is with God. But unlike our earthly parents, with Him confession always brings immediate forgiveness, restores our sanctification (1 John 1:9-10) and it’s as if our disobedience never happened. And sometimes He Who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift will even turn the event into a great blessing once we’ve come to our senses and repented. For what man intends for evil, God intends for good. These are the essentials of salvation.
