Salvation 101

Usually, when the topic of salvation is brought up, the conversation will end by trying to articulate an answer to the question of whether or not salvation can be lost. It happens all the time! So much so that sadly churches often prefer not to speak of it, even though everybody recognizes that salvation is the key to Christian life. Indeed, the topic of salvation is immensely richer and more practical than simply reducing it to discuss theological speculations on how God's sovereignty and human’s free will interact with one another. Salvation is God’s gift that can be experienced every day. The Bible clearly demonstrates basic evidence in order to recognize salvation is at work in men and women. This summary look to emphasize on that basic evidence in the following paragraphs. First of all, salvation is a precious and wonderful gift of God for those who believe. It is free for the believer, but not cheap. It cost God the life of his only begotten son, Jesus. On one hand, salvation was given by God and nobody had to do anything for that to occur—except Jesus. On the other hand, salvation is available to everyone and nobody can do anything to make that not so—except Jesus. Salvation unilaterally originated from God towards men and women out of his immense love and mercy, and thus, it is unconditional on God’s part. But, salvation is also conditional on men’s part, which means that it must be received so that it becomes actual. Salvation can be pictured as though, at one extreme, God stretches his arms to reach out to us—this is what the Bible calls grace. At the other extreme, men and women have to stretch their arms to take his gift—this is what the Bible calls faith. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God (Jn 1:9-13.)1 Salvation can be seen like a verb that the grace of God conjugates in three tenses: past, present and future. In the past tense of salvation, the believer truly repents, and forgiveness of sins is granted. As a consequence, the believer is saved from the punishment of sin. It is important to understand that repentance (gr., metanoia) means a profound change of mind and of the heart's attitude towards sin [2]. As a matter of fact, it is the actualization within believer’s own heart of what is written as “to believe in His name” or “to receive Him”. People who truly repent assume all their guilt for their sins without justifying themselves in the sight of others. Jesus, for example, could not forgive Pharisees, because they always justified themselves (Lk 16:15). Justifying oneself is like saying “I am not guilty, someone else is.” It is similar to an ill person who does not recognize he or she is sick; it will be impossible for that person to be healed. By the same token, without repentance, somebody could intellectually assent that Jesus is the savior and yet not be saved. That is why Jesus said: the healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Lk 5:31-32.) Believers are just sinners who come to Jesus and confess their sins to receive healing. A central issue is that Jesus is the one who must say: salvation has come to this house—as in the case of Zacchaeus (Lk 19:8); it is not the pastor nor a prophet; it is not what one imagines nor what one reads. When God forgives someone, He not only is pleased that such an individual earnestly asks for the forgiveness of others, but God expects that person to forgive others as well (Matthew 18: 23-35). And this is a substantial mark of salvation. The one who truly receives it must possess the will to sort things out with those with whom that person has problems (Mt 5:23). Anything else could not be salvation. In the present tense of salvation, the believer is saved from the power of sin on a daily basis. Paul says therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come (2Co 5:17.) In other words, that sin-loving mindset a person has before receiving Jesus gets destroyed and replaced by a sin-hating mindset. This new mindset is what makes the believer become a new creature albeit still living in a body of sin. Paul explains it in this way: for we know that our old self [i.e., the old man or person before conversion] was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin (Ro 6:6). The sin that dwells in the body is like a master who always seeks to enslave the new creature, who now belongs to another owner (Jn 8: 31-35, Ro 6: 16-18). The mark of the believer who truly belongs to God is that he always submits to Him in sincere obedience, living for God alone. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised (2Co 5:15.) Therefore, the new creature must fight his own sin throughout his whole life, resisting even to the point of shedding blood (He 12:4), as Jesus did. In this battle, the believer has all the grace of God backing him, which is help received for a timely relief (He 4:16). As the believer offers himself to God, His wonderful grace is what enables the believer to experience salvation from sin (Eph 2:8-10). Sin may present itself in different ways for the believer, such as: pride, anger, greed, bitterness, hypocrisy, love of money, etc. The believer, who knows sin appears in one of those ways, must be attentive, vigilant, always asking God for His grace to keep him from falling under the dominion of sin. An essential issue is that the believer must keep looking at Jesus, who is the model of life on earth. John the Apostol says: the one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked (1Jn 2:6.) In fact, this constitutes the mark of someone who is experiencing the present tense of salvation. Firstly, becoming more Christlike must be the goal for all believers, as it is written: For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers (Ro 8:29.) Secondly, the more the believer looks upon Jesus’ life, the more salvation from sin is experienced; as Paul says: For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! (Ro 5:10.) Therefore, becoming more Christlike is the direct result of freedom from sin. Jesus’s attitudes must be present in believer’s life as salvation from sin is experienced; his example of obedience (Jn 15:10), love (Jn 15:12-13), and suffering (1Pe 2:19-23). Christlikeness is central in the apostles’ teachings and examples (1Co 11:1). In the future tense of salvation, the believer is saved from the presence of sin. Besides this, knowing the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed (Ro 13:11.) This great event occurs at the point of believer's death. From that moment on, the believer will never again fight against sin, which will have forever been extirpated from his life along with the body that was subject to its domain. The believer will enter a new life in the very presence of God, in a totally different world; one that is difficult to imagine, beyond the ten dimensions in which this physical universe was conceived. The believer, now in a totally transformed body, will experience other types of unknown “physical” laws. There will be no gravitational force, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force, electromagnetic force, nor matter as we know it. The Bible describes this by saying that: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist [entropy]; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away (See Rev 21:1-8.) This is the great salvation that Jesus, the Savior, has provided to all who believe in him. It is such great salvation that Paul exhorts the believer in the following way: so then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose (Ph 2:12-13.) Notes and References

All Bible references in this essay are taken, unless otherwise stated, from Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB).
Bible Study Tools, New Testament Greek Lexicon. <www.biblestudytools.com> Accessed May 16, 2017.