The Way of Salvation
1. Question: "What must I do to be saved?" Answer: This is undoubtedly the most important of all the questions that a person could ask in relation to his own personal life. To be "saved," in Biblical terminology, means to be saved from sin and death and hell, and to be saved unto righteousness and heaven and everlasting life. Salvation has past, present and future aspects: we are saved from the penalty of past sin through Christ's atoning death on the cross, from the power of sin through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives right now, and ultimately from the very presence of sin in heaven.
This question was asked by the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30, and was forthrightly and simply answered by the Apostle Paul when he said: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (future tense)" (Acts 16:31). Jesus Himself said: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). The word "believeth" is an action verb which implies obedience upon the part of the one who believes in Christ.
We are instructed in the Bible to "Lay hold of Salvation." Upon obedient faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the victorious Savior from sin and death is the means by which salvation is received. This is achieved when the action of Romans 6:1-6 takes place. The substitutionary death of Christ for our sins is the basis on which God is justified in saving us through obedient faith (not faith alone), and this is demonstrated and guaranteed in the victorious bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave. Obedient faith is what saves. Not faith alone. Obedient faith therefore, is faith in action, which is seen in the equation:
Salvation = Faith + Repentance + Confession + Baptism
But the natural man is proud and tends to resist the idea that there is nothing he can do to save himself and that he must trust in Christ to do it all. Accordingly, he has invented many substitutes for this simple way of salvation, and these substitutes have led multitudes down the road to eternal destruction. Biblical refutations of some of these false ideas about salvation are outlined below:
One cannot be saved simply by believing and sincerely practicing any religion he chooses. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
We are not saved just by keeping God's laws, for no one can keep them perfectly. "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:10). "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). However, Heaven cannot be achieved unless we are obedient to God's commandments (Rev 2:10; Rev 22:14). These commandments are not the same as simply doing good works. Even the demons "believe and tremble" They do good works and even appear from time to time as "angels of light." They do good works but are not obedient to Christ's will. They do no submit themselves to the authority of God's Will (i.e. God's Word). Hell is prepared for them.
No one can be saved through doing good works. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5).
Faith is the Start and Baptism is the means of salvation. Paul said: "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1 Corinthians 1:17). The gospel, by definition, is the "good news" of Christ's atoning death and resurrection, and it is by believing the gospel and being bapized, that men are saved (Acts 22:16). The thief on the cross was saved, but never baptized (Luke 23:42, 43). Of course, the explanation for this is simple. The Old Law of Moses was still in effect when Christ told the thief, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Christ had not died yet and the Old Law had not been nailed to the Cross. Thus, the thief was still under the Old Law and under the Law of Christ. The Gospel of Christ was not in effect because Christ was still alive.
We are not saved by joining a church. The Lord adds us to the Church (Acts 2:47). There are multitudes of unsaved church members. To the members of the church in Laodicea, for example, Christ said: "Because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16). The Church is the container where the Lord places the saved (Acts 2:47).
There are numerous other false ideas about salvation that are prevalent, but all of them, like the above, consist in man's doing something which he feels will help earn his salvation. Thus they all contribute to the upbuilding of human pride and the downgrading of God's marvelous gift in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
It is certainly true that a person who has been genuinely saved, through faith in Christ and obedience to the Gospel (i.e. Believe, Repent, Confess, Be Baptized, etc..), will gladly do the above and other good works or acts of obedience. He will follow the Lord in baptism (Mark 16:15-16; Galatians 3:26-27; Romans 6:1-6, be a faithful church member, seek to obey God's laws, and do works of righteousness and try sincerely to live a consistent Christian life in every way. Keep in mind that Baptism is a command (Acts 2:37-38). If he refuses or neglects to do these things, there is reason to doubt the genuineness of his salvation. "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments" (1 John 2:3). As we've already seen, Baptism is one of those commandments.
But it is extremely important to do these things with the right motive. If the unsaved man does them to earn salvation, he is deceiving himself and "frustrating the grace of God" (Galatians 2:21).
The true Christian does these and other good works out of love and gratitude to the Lord Jesus in order to "lay hold of salvation." "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; ...that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). We cannot be saved unless we "Live unto Him." We live unto Him when we are obedient to God's Word and God's Plan for our Salvation (See the equation above)...
2. Question: "What do Christians mean when they say they have been 'born again?" Answer: This is essentially the same question that Nicodemus, the great Jewish teacher, asked Jesus one night long ago. Jesus had just said: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Nicodemus replied: "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
Jesus, of course, was referring to a spiritual birth, and He made this clear by saying: "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). This can better be translated "water, even the Spirit." That is, the waters of baptism, which symbolize the entrance of a believer into the Christian life, are representative of the spiritual birth that takes place when a person passes out of the old life, and is baptized by the Spirit of God into a new life in Christ.
Every individual, once he reaches an age where he knows right from wrong, soon becomes a conscious sinner, and therefore a guilty sinner, in the sight of an all-holy God. Although he may do many good things and may even be a religious person, he is nevertheless a sinner. Both Scripture and universal experience unite in their testimony that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
God's moral law is a unit and is "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). To break any part of His law is to break all of it. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). A man who is proud, or selfish, or who distorts the truth, or neglects the Sabbath, or uses profanity or vulgarity in his speech, is as much a lost sinner in God's sight as the thief, or adulterer, or murderer. Sins of omission also are evil. "Whosoever, therefore, knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
The Bible, in fact, teaches that all men are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Since men are all in a state of spiritual death in their natural condition, separated from God and out of fellowship with Him, it is no wonder that Jesus said: "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).
The Bible also teaches that men, in their natural state, are "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). They are "children of the devil" (1 John 3:10) and "children of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6). The popular notion that all men are fundamentally "children of God" is an utterly false and dangerous idea, completely without any basis in Scripture.
It is therefore clear that every man urgently needs to be born again to become a "child of God" rather than a "child of the wicked one," to have spiritual life rather than to continue in a state of spiritual death. But the great question is still, as Nicodemus asked: "How can these things be?"
The only solution is found in Christ Himself. Since each ordinary man is already dead in sins, he cannot bring himself to spiritual life by his own power. He must receive such regenerative power from the Holy Spirit, and this can only be given if his sins are first forgiven and washed away. But "without shedding of blood is no remission" of sins (Hebrews 9:22), for "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Jesus Christ is the sacrificial "Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He was offered up for our sins, "that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). He explained it thus to Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." That is, He must be lifted up to die on the cross. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14, 16).
Now, therefore, when an individual sees the sinfulness of his own life for what it really is, deserving nothing from God but eternal separation in hell, but then also truly sees and believes that Christ loved him and suffered and died to save him from his sins, his heart is thereby made ready for the marvelous miracle of regeneration. In response to his repentance and faith, the Holy Spirit—that is, God Himself—enters his heart and imparts His own eternal spiritual life to the new believer. His sins are charged to Christ's account, and Christ's perfect righteousness is placed to his own account (2 Corinthians 5:21). The indwelling Holy Spirit gives him a new nature, new motives, new goals, new understanding, and new power. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). "To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on His name" (John 1:12).
3. Question: "Can a person really know that he is saved?" Answer: It is certainly possible for a person to know that he is saved and is ready to meet God. In fact, God intends and desires us to have this assurance.
First, however, we should realize that trying to live a Christian life is not sufficient. As the Apostle Paul says, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do" (Romans 7:18, 19). If such a man as Paul found it impossible to live as he should, in spite of his sincere desire to do so, then this will certainly be true of the rest of us.
But what Paul could not do himself, Christ accomplished in him. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
Just as Paul did, when one believes in his heart that Christ gave Himself for him— that is, He suffered and died as his substitute, bearing God's judgment for his sins—then he can know the real joy and peace of all sins completely forgiven. Since he was thus judged by God to be dead because of sin, he is then also reckoned by Him to be raised from the dead, to a new life in Christ. He thenceforth lives in and through the believer, and His power and guidance will enable that one to live a true Christian life.
Having been thus "born again" (note John 3:3), he can then claim all the Bible's gracious promises for assurances of salvation, some of which are as follows:
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life (1 John 5:13). For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12). Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we that we are in him (1 John 2:5). The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16). We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren (1 John 3:14).
These and many other Scriptures show that a person may rightly claim that he knows that he is saved, provided that he has been born into a new life through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and his personal Savior from sin. The reality of this faith and his new life in Christ will be shown, both to him and to others, by his love and respect for the Word of God and for his fellow Christians, and will be confirmed in his own heart by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who has come to indwell him. Therefore, if one is really a Christian in the true sense, he should have genuine assurance that he is in full possession of God's great salvation.
4. Question: "Can a person receive Christ as his Savior without accepting Him as Lord?" Answer: The doctrine of the Lordship of Christ is an integral part of the "doctrine of Christ." As will be pointed out later, the doctrine of Christ is really the entire system of Christ's teachings. These can be conveniently grouped under the categories: teachings concerning His person, His work, and His relationship to us as Lord.
The Scripture says that whosoever "abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God" (2 John 9). This obviously implies far more than a mere spoken or ritualistic assent to certain historical facts. To "believe," in the Biblical usage, means to "trust completely," to "rely fully." One must come to Christ under the conviction that he is unable to help himself in any way, absolutely "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). He must recognize and accept Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, who died on the cross in payment for his sins, both satisfying the justice of God and manifesting the love of God. He must believe that Christ, raised from the dead and with all power, is able and willing to save him, forgiving his sins and assuring him of eternal life.
But he cannot come to Christ in a bargaining posture, willing to accept Him as Savior provided he does not have to accept Him as Lord. If he must first be assured that he can retain certain pet beliefs or practices before he will commit himself to Christ, he will never be saved. He is "dead in sins," and a dead man does not make conditions or bargains.
It is clear from the Scriptures that true conversion makes Christ the Lord of one's life as well as his Savior from the penalty of sin. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (not just believe on Jesus), and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).
Similarly, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). Also, "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Jesus said to His disciples: "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well: for so am I" (John 13:13).
It is interesting and significant that, in the four Gospels, none of the disciples ever addressed the Lord Jesus by His given name, "Jesus." Normally they addressed Him as "Lord," occasionally as "Master." In the narrative portions of the Gospels, statements about His activities do frequently use His human name "Jesus," but His disciples always addressed Him as "Lord," and this is what we should do as well. "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). To us, therefore, He is "the Lord Jesus Christ," and it is most appropriate for us normally to speak of Him this way.
Of course, it is hypocritical and meaningless to call Him "Lord" unless He really is the Lord of our lives. "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
Christ must be our Lord in reality as well as in name. This means that we are His servants and that we obey His commandments. Similarly, He is our Master (literally "teacher") and we are His disciples (literally "learners"), so that we also believe His words. Thus, the doctrine of His Lordship involves our acceptance of His absolute authority, both in belief and in practice. "Ye are not your own... For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).
Acceptance of Christ's Lordship, for example, certainly entails acceptance of the Bible as the fully inspired, fully authoritative, inerrant Word of God. He said, for example, "The Scriptures cannot be broken." With respect to the Pentateuch, He said: "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?" (John 5:46, 47). It is obviously impossible to believe truly in Christ as Lord if we reject any of His own beliefs or teachings.
Similarly, if He is really our Lord and we are His servants (literally "bond-slaves"), we will earnestly try to understand and obey all His commands—beginning with baptism and then all the rest. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me" (John 14:21).
Thus the "doctrine of Christ" is not some emasculated, least-common-denominator, non-controversial preaching of "another Jesus, whom we have not preached" (2 Corinthians 11:4), such as is becoming very common today, even in evangelical churches and fellowships. Rather it is "all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27), the entire body of "the faith once-for-all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3), and one cannot safely reject or ignore any part of it. One who truly is saved, and who therefore loves the Lord Jesus Christ, even though in this life he may be unable to understand completely and obey all His words, will surely believe them and, by His grace, seek to follow them as the Lord reveals them to him through the Scriptures.
5. Question: "How can we be saved by faith alone? Doesn't the Bible teach that faith without works is dead?" Answer: Those who wish to find contradictions in the Bible often point to the supposed conflict between Paul and James. James does say, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:24). Paul says, on the other hand, "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
However, there are no real contradictions in the Bible. The Bible is God's Word, and God cannot contradict Himself. One should remember that "a text without a context is a pretext." Always carefully study both the immediate context and the broader context when dealing with any verse which seems to entail some kind of difficulty.
In the context, James is concerned with "justification" (that is, "declaring righteous") by man, whereas Paul is talking about being justified by God. Man necessarily must judge by what he sees, and he cannot look into man's heart to ascertain whether he really has saving faith or not. So, James say, "I will show thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18). Works here can be realized as works of obedience and works of righteousness.
Paul does not contradict this at all, but is fully in agreement with the principle that genuine faith will inevitably and necessarily manifest itself in works. In the verse immediately following the passage quoted above (Ephesians 2:9), in which he strongly emphasizes that works do not contribute in any way to salvation, he then says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
Thus, "good works"—that is, a "walk" in obedience to God's Word—will certainly be a result of a faith which is truly genuine and obedient to Christ. This, of course, will be observed by other people, and such a man will therefore be "justified" in their sight. A faith which fails to produce such works is a spurious faith. James asks the rhetorical question, "Can that faith save him?" And the answer, of course, is "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:14, 20).
But it is not these, or any other works, which actually save the individual, and it is extremely important that we realize this. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Galatians 2:16). See also Galatians 3:26-27.
If a person is depending in any way upon his own righteousness or good works to earn his salvation, he may very well not be saved at all, since basically he is trusting in himself and what he is doing, rather than in Christ and what He has done.
It is interesting to note that every human religion, except Biblical Christianity, is a religion of salvation by works. Each does involve faith, of course—that is, faith in the particular founder, or god, or system associated with that religion. But each also involves a certain set of good works which must be accomplished before salvation is merited.
Invariably, however, this standard is capable of attainment by human effort. This proves it to be a man-made standard, since no man or group of men would ever institute a set of requirements for salvation which they could never reach. Thus every religion, with the exception of genuine Christianity, is a religion of salvation through both faith and works, with both specified as necessary, and with both well within the capabilities of man to attain.
On the other hand, the Biblical standard is one of absolute perfection, a character of holiness equal to that of God Himself! Any lapse whatever is fatal. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). Thus, James and Paul are in complete agreement that no one is sufficiently righteous to merit salvation by his works. They are also in agreement that one cannot be saved without being obedient to Christ and His gospel (Romans 1:16).
Many people today have the vague notion that salvation is a simple matter of arithmetic, and will be awarded by some cosmic bookkeeper if one's good deeds outnumber his bad deeds. And, of course, since each person feels he has the right to decide himself what is good and what is bad, he naturally is confident that he is on the right side of the ledger.
But this popular delusion is deadly foolishness, and comes from the age-old lie of the serpent himself: "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). No one will ever be saved who is relying on his own good works, or his family, or his church, or his education, or his wealth, or any other human factors whatever, for that salvation. In fact, pride and unbelief are the most deadly sins of all, and these characteristically afflict those persons who, by ordinary human criteria, have attained the highest status in society.
Thus, eternal life is not something to be earned by faith alone or by good works alone, or even something to be maintained by good works, because no one is able to meet God's standard of absolute holiness of heart and life. But that which could never be earned, our God of all grace gives as a free gift to everyone who will accept it. We accept it when we are obedient to God's Word (i.e. The Gospel of Christ). "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "Yet learned He obedience through the things which He suffered." If Christ learned obedience on the way to dying for our sins, shouldn't we who are recipients of His grace also learn obedience in order to be saved from our sins? Confession, Repentance and Baptism are acts of obedience.
One should not minimize the value of this gift, however. Although free to the obedient believer, it is infinitely costly to the Giver, "Who bore our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). Every sin each man has ever committed—even the sin of unbelief—was laid on the Son of man, as He suffered the agonies of the cross and even the depths of hell itself in our place. "He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
We accept His offer of pardon only when we are obedient to the Word or Gospel of Christ
When, through faith, we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, accepting His gracious offer of pardon and salvation, then it is that our characters are so transformed, and the whole direction and motivation of our lives so revolutionized, that we are, in fact, "born again" (John 3:3; Acts 2:38-39). We must, and will, thenceforth seek to live unto Him in all things, not in the hope of earning salvation, but in gratitude and love to Him who purchased it with His own blood and has freely given it to us. We can then say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20
The Bible Has the Answer.
This question was asked by the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30, and was forthrightly and simply answered by the Apostle Paul when he said: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (future tense)" (Acts 16:31). Jesus Himself said: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). The word "believeth" is an action verb which implies obedience upon the part of the one who believes in Christ.
We are instructed in the Bible to "Lay hold of Salvation." Upon obedient faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the victorious Savior from sin and death is the means by which salvation is received. This is achieved when the action of Romans 6:1-6 takes place. The substitutionary death of Christ for our sins is the basis on which God is justified in saving us through obedient faith (not faith alone), and this is demonstrated and guaranteed in the victorious bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave. Obedient faith is what saves. Not faith alone. Obedient faith therefore, is faith in action, which is seen in the equation:
Salvation = Faith + Repentance + Confession + Baptism
But the natural man is proud and tends to resist the idea that there is nothing he can do to save himself and that he must trust in Christ to do it all. Accordingly, he has invented many substitutes for this simple way of salvation, and these substitutes have led multitudes down the road to eternal destruction. Biblical refutations of some of these false ideas about salvation are outlined below:
One cannot be saved simply by believing and sincerely practicing any religion he chooses. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
We are not saved just by keeping God's laws, for no one can keep them perfectly. "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:10). "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). However, Heaven cannot be achieved unless we are obedient to God's commandments (Rev 2:10; Rev 22:14). These commandments are not the same as simply doing good works. Even the demons "believe and tremble" They do good works and even appear from time to time as "angels of light." They do good works but are not obedient to Christ's will. They do no submit themselves to the authority of God's Will (i.e. God's Word). Hell is prepared for them.
No one can be saved through doing good works. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5).
Faith is the Start and Baptism is the means of salvation. Paul said: "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1 Corinthians 1:17). The gospel, by definition, is the "good news" of Christ's atoning death and resurrection, and it is by believing the gospel and being bapized, that men are saved (Acts 22:16). The thief on the cross was saved, but never baptized (Luke 23:42, 43). Of course, the explanation for this is simple. The Old Law of Moses was still in effect when Christ told the thief, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Christ had not died yet and the Old Law had not been nailed to the Cross. Thus, the thief was still under the Old Law and under the Law of Christ. The Gospel of Christ was not in effect because Christ was still alive.
We are not saved by joining a church. The Lord adds us to the Church (Acts 2:47). There are multitudes of unsaved church members. To the members of the church in Laodicea, for example, Christ said: "Because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16). The Church is the container where the Lord places the saved (Acts 2:47).
There are numerous other false ideas about salvation that are prevalent, but all of them, like the above, consist in man's doing something which he feels will help earn his salvation. Thus they all contribute to the upbuilding of human pride and the downgrading of God's marvelous gift in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
It is certainly true that a person who has been genuinely saved, through faith in Christ and obedience to the Gospel (i.e. Believe, Repent, Confess, Be Baptized, etc..), will gladly do the above and other good works or acts of obedience. He will follow the Lord in baptism (Mark 16:15-16; Galatians 3:26-27; Romans 6:1-6, be a faithful church member, seek to obey God's laws, and do works of righteousness and try sincerely to live a consistent Christian life in every way. Keep in mind that Baptism is a command (Acts 2:37-38). If he refuses or neglects to do these things, there is reason to doubt the genuineness of his salvation. "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments" (1 John 2:3). As we've already seen, Baptism is one of those commandments.
But it is extremely important to do these things with the right motive. If the unsaved man does them to earn salvation, he is deceiving himself and "frustrating the grace of God" (Galatians 2:21).
The true Christian does these and other good works out of love and gratitude to the Lord Jesus in order to "lay hold of salvation." "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; ...that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). We cannot be saved unless we "Live unto Him." We live unto Him when we are obedient to God's Word and God's Plan for our Salvation (See the equation above)...
2. Question: "What do Christians mean when they say they have been 'born again?" Answer: This is essentially the same question that Nicodemus, the great Jewish teacher, asked Jesus one night long ago. Jesus had just said: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Nicodemus replied: "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
Jesus, of course, was referring to a spiritual birth, and He made this clear by saying: "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). This can better be translated "water, even the Spirit." That is, the waters of baptism, which symbolize the entrance of a believer into the Christian life, are representative of the spiritual birth that takes place when a person passes out of the old life, and is baptized by the Spirit of God into a new life in Christ.
Every individual, once he reaches an age where he knows right from wrong, soon becomes a conscious sinner, and therefore a guilty sinner, in the sight of an all-holy God. Although he may do many good things and may even be a religious person, he is nevertheless a sinner. Both Scripture and universal experience unite in their testimony that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
God's moral law is a unit and is "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). To break any part of His law is to break all of it. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). A man who is proud, or selfish, or who distorts the truth, or neglects the Sabbath, or uses profanity or vulgarity in his speech, is as much a lost sinner in God's sight as the thief, or adulterer, or murderer. Sins of omission also are evil. "Whosoever, therefore, knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
The Bible, in fact, teaches that all men are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Since men are all in a state of spiritual death in their natural condition, separated from God and out of fellowship with Him, it is no wonder that Jesus said: "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).
The Bible also teaches that men, in their natural state, are "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). They are "children of the devil" (1 John 3:10) and "children of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6). The popular notion that all men are fundamentally "children of God" is an utterly false and dangerous idea, completely without any basis in Scripture.
It is therefore clear that every man urgently needs to be born again to become a "child of God" rather than a "child of the wicked one," to have spiritual life rather than to continue in a state of spiritual death. But the great question is still, as Nicodemus asked: "How can these things be?"
The only solution is found in Christ Himself. Since each ordinary man is already dead in sins, he cannot bring himself to spiritual life by his own power. He must receive such regenerative power from the Holy Spirit, and this can only be given if his sins are first forgiven and washed away. But "without shedding of blood is no remission" of sins (Hebrews 9:22), for "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Jesus Christ is the sacrificial "Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He was offered up for our sins, "that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). He explained it thus to Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." That is, He must be lifted up to die on the cross. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14, 16).
Now, therefore, when an individual sees the sinfulness of his own life for what it really is, deserving nothing from God but eternal separation in hell, but then also truly sees and believes that Christ loved him and suffered and died to save him from his sins, his heart is thereby made ready for the marvelous miracle of regeneration. In response to his repentance and faith, the Holy Spirit—that is, God Himself—enters his heart and imparts His own eternal spiritual life to the new believer. His sins are charged to Christ's account, and Christ's perfect righteousness is placed to his own account (2 Corinthians 5:21). The indwelling Holy Spirit gives him a new nature, new motives, new goals, new understanding, and new power. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). "To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on His name" (John 1:12).
3. Question: "Can a person really know that he is saved?" Answer: It is certainly possible for a person to know that he is saved and is ready to meet God. In fact, God intends and desires us to have this assurance.
First, however, we should realize that trying to live a Christian life is not sufficient. As the Apostle Paul says, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do" (Romans 7:18, 19). If such a man as Paul found it impossible to live as he should, in spite of his sincere desire to do so, then this will certainly be true of the rest of us.
But what Paul could not do himself, Christ accomplished in him. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
Just as Paul did, when one believes in his heart that Christ gave Himself for him— that is, He suffered and died as his substitute, bearing God's judgment for his sins—then he can know the real joy and peace of all sins completely forgiven. Since he was thus judged by God to be dead because of sin, he is then also reckoned by Him to be raised from the dead, to a new life in Christ. He thenceforth lives in and through the believer, and His power and guidance will enable that one to live a true Christian life.
Having been thus "born again" (note John 3:3), he can then claim all the Bible's gracious promises for assurances of salvation, some of which are as follows:
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life (1 John 5:13). For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12). Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we that we are in him (1 John 2:5). The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16). We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren (1 John 3:14).
These and many other Scriptures show that a person may rightly claim that he knows that he is saved, provided that he has been born into a new life through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and his personal Savior from sin. The reality of this faith and his new life in Christ will be shown, both to him and to others, by his love and respect for the Word of God and for his fellow Christians, and will be confirmed in his own heart by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who has come to indwell him. Therefore, if one is really a Christian in the true sense, he should have genuine assurance that he is in full possession of God's great salvation.
4. Question: "Can a person receive Christ as his Savior without accepting Him as Lord?" Answer: The doctrine of the Lordship of Christ is an integral part of the "doctrine of Christ." As will be pointed out later, the doctrine of Christ is really the entire system of Christ's teachings. These can be conveniently grouped under the categories: teachings concerning His person, His work, and His relationship to us as Lord.
The Scripture says that whosoever "abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God" (2 John 9). This obviously implies far more than a mere spoken or ritualistic assent to certain historical facts. To "believe," in the Biblical usage, means to "trust completely," to "rely fully." One must come to Christ under the conviction that he is unable to help himself in any way, absolutely "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). He must recognize and accept Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, who died on the cross in payment for his sins, both satisfying the justice of God and manifesting the love of God. He must believe that Christ, raised from the dead and with all power, is able and willing to save him, forgiving his sins and assuring him of eternal life.
But he cannot come to Christ in a bargaining posture, willing to accept Him as Savior provided he does not have to accept Him as Lord. If he must first be assured that he can retain certain pet beliefs or practices before he will commit himself to Christ, he will never be saved. He is "dead in sins," and a dead man does not make conditions or bargains.
It is clear from the Scriptures that true conversion makes Christ the Lord of one's life as well as his Savior from the penalty of sin. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (not just believe on Jesus), and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).
Similarly, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). Also, "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Jesus said to His disciples: "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well: for so am I" (John 13:13).
It is interesting and significant that, in the four Gospels, none of the disciples ever addressed the Lord Jesus by His given name, "Jesus." Normally they addressed Him as "Lord," occasionally as "Master." In the narrative portions of the Gospels, statements about His activities do frequently use His human name "Jesus," but His disciples always addressed Him as "Lord," and this is what we should do as well. "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). To us, therefore, He is "the Lord Jesus Christ," and it is most appropriate for us normally to speak of Him this way.
Of course, it is hypocritical and meaningless to call Him "Lord" unless He really is the Lord of our lives. "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
Christ must be our Lord in reality as well as in name. This means that we are His servants and that we obey His commandments. Similarly, He is our Master (literally "teacher") and we are His disciples (literally "learners"), so that we also believe His words. Thus, the doctrine of His Lordship involves our acceptance of His absolute authority, both in belief and in practice. "Ye are not your own... For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).
Acceptance of Christ's Lordship, for example, certainly entails acceptance of the Bible as the fully inspired, fully authoritative, inerrant Word of God. He said, for example, "The Scriptures cannot be broken." With respect to the Pentateuch, He said: "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?" (John 5:46, 47). It is obviously impossible to believe truly in Christ as Lord if we reject any of His own beliefs or teachings.
Similarly, if He is really our Lord and we are His servants (literally "bond-slaves"), we will earnestly try to understand and obey all His commands—beginning with baptism and then all the rest. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me" (John 14:21).
Thus the "doctrine of Christ" is not some emasculated, least-common-denominator, non-controversial preaching of "another Jesus, whom we have not preached" (2 Corinthians 11:4), such as is becoming very common today, even in evangelical churches and fellowships. Rather it is "all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27), the entire body of "the faith once-for-all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3), and one cannot safely reject or ignore any part of it. One who truly is saved, and who therefore loves the Lord Jesus Christ, even though in this life he may be unable to understand completely and obey all His words, will surely believe them and, by His grace, seek to follow them as the Lord reveals them to him through the Scriptures.
5. Question: "How can we be saved by faith alone? Doesn't the Bible teach that faith without works is dead?" Answer: Those who wish to find contradictions in the Bible often point to the supposed conflict between Paul and James. James does say, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:24). Paul says, on the other hand, "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
However, there are no real contradictions in the Bible. The Bible is God's Word, and God cannot contradict Himself. One should remember that "a text without a context is a pretext." Always carefully study both the immediate context and the broader context when dealing with any verse which seems to entail some kind of difficulty.
In the context, James is concerned with "justification" (that is, "declaring righteous") by man, whereas Paul is talking about being justified by God. Man necessarily must judge by what he sees, and he cannot look into man's heart to ascertain whether he really has saving faith or not. So, James say, "I will show thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18). Works here can be realized as works of obedience and works of righteousness.
Paul does not contradict this at all, but is fully in agreement with the principle that genuine faith will inevitably and necessarily manifest itself in works. In the verse immediately following the passage quoted above (Ephesians 2:9), in which he strongly emphasizes that works do not contribute in any way to salvation, he then says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
Thus, "good works"—that is, a "walk" in obedience to God's Word—will certainly be a result of a faith which is truly genuine and obedient to Christ. This, of course, will be observed by other people, and such a man will therefore be "justified" in their sight. A faith which fails to produce such works is a spurious faith. James asks the rhetorical question, "Can that faith save him?" And the answer, of course, is "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:14, 20).
But it is not these, or any other works, which actually save the individual, and it is extremely important that we realize this. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Galatians 2:16). See also Galatians 3:26-27.
If a person is depending in any way upon his own righteousness or good works to earn his salvation, he may very well not be saved at all, since basically he is trusting in himself and what he is doing, rather than in Christ and what He has done.
It is interesting to note that every human religion, except Biblical Christianity, is a religion of salvation by works. Each does involve faith, of course—that is, faith in the particular founder, or god, or system associated with that religion. But each also involves a certain set of good works which must be accomplished before salvation is merited.
Invariably, however, this standard is capable of attainment by human effort. This proves it to be a man-made standard, since no man or group of men would ever institute a set of requirements for salvation which they could never reach. Thus every religion, with the exception of genuine Christianity, is a religion of salvation through both faith and works, with both specified as necessary, and with both well within the capabilities of man to attain.
On the other hand, the Biblical standard is one of absolute perfection, a character of holiness equal to that of God Himself! Any lapse whatever is fatal. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). Thus, James and Paul are in complete agreement that no one is sufficiently righteous to merit salvation by his works. They are also in agreement that one cannot be saved without being obedient to Christ and His gospel (Romans 1:16).
Many people today have the vague notion that salvation is a simple matter of arithmetic, and will be awarded by some cosmic bookkeeper if one's good deeds outnumber his bad deeds. And, of course, since each person feels he has the right to decide himself what is good and what is bad, he naturally is confident that he is on the right side of the ledger.
But this popular delusion is deadly foolishness, and comes from the age-old lie of the serpent himself: "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). No one will ever be saved who is relying on his own good works, or his family, or his church, or his education, or his wealth, or any other human factors whatever, for that salvation. In fact, pride and unbelief are the most deadly sins of all, and these characteristically afflict those persons who, by ordinary human criteria, have attained the highest status in society.
Thus, eternal life is not something to be earned by faith alone or by good works alone, or even something to be maintained by good works, because no one is able to meet God's standard of absolute holiness of heart and life. But that which could never be earned, our God of all grace gives as a free gift to everyone who will accept it. We accept it when we are obedient to God's Word (i.e. The Gospel of Christ). "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "Yet learned He obedience through the things which He suffered." If Christ learned obedience on the way to dying for our sins, shouldn't we who are recipients of His grace also learn obedience in order to be saved from our sins? Confession, Repentance and Baptism are acts of obedience.
One should not minimize the value of this gift, however. Although free to the obedient believer, it is infinitely costly to the Giver, "Who bore our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). Every sin each man has ever committed—even the sin of unbelief—was laid on the Son of man, as He suffered the agonies of the cross and even the depths of hell itself in our place. "He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
We accept His offer of pardon only when we are obedient to the Word or Gospel of Christ
When, through faith, we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, accepting His gracious offer of pardon and salvation, then it is that our characters are so transformed, and the whole direction and motivation of our lives so revolutionized, that we are, in fact, "born again" (John 3:3; Acts 2:38-39). We must, and will, thenceforth seek to live unto Him in all things, not in the hope of earning salvation, but in gratitude and love to Him who purchased it with His own blood and has freely given it to us. We can then say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20
The Bible Has the Answer.