Salvation, what does the Bible say?

By John Gooch

On the day of Pentecost, the day the church began as described in Acts chapter 2, we saw how the disciples were together in Jerusalem and how they were "clothed with power from on high", the Holy Spirit. We saw Peter preach the first Gospel sermon to those who were from every nation on earth. When Peter was finished, and upon hearing the Good News, those Jews there asked the famous question, "Men and brothers, what shall we do?"

Men have asked that question for centuries. "What can I do to be saved?" It is a question that we all have or will ask in our lives, especially when we come to study the Bible, knowing that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) and that our "sins have separated you from God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2). Every man sins and is separated from God. How do get united with Him? How do we get 'in Christ'? How do we know we are on the road to eternal life in heaven? 

Today we will look at how the Bible answers the question, "how can I be saved." Let's with the passage that Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast." So we are saved by grace, through faith. So what is grace? It is ‘unmerited favor’: A favor that God has bestowed upon us that we do not deserve! It is not given in response to a work or works we have done. God knew that if we could earn our way into heaven we would, as Paul points out, boast about it. We would glorify ourselves and not God. 

1 – FAITH

So we receive this grace through our faith. Faith is defined in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Faith can also be called 'belief'. This faith is not a passive faith, but an active one. An example of passive faith would be that I believe that Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address even though I wasn't there to witness it. This kind of faith, the passive faith or belief, is not sufficient to save man. Want proof? Look at James 2:19. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons (devils) believe that – and shudder." Even though the demons knew who Jesus was, they will not be saved. When demons were cast out by Jesus in His ministry, the Bible describes them calling Him by name. They recognized Him as the Son of God (see Luke 8:28 and Luke 4:34). 

The demons believed! Are they saved? Of course not. 

So what kind of faith is required to be saved? Romans 1:5 gives us the answer: "Through Him (Jesus) and for His namesake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith." Paul says we are to have an 'obedient' faith. Another example is Romans 16:25-26, "Now to Him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey Him." James say it this way in verse 26 of the 2nd chapter of his letter, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead." Our faith must be accompanied by works, or deeds. So Paul's passage on salvation in Ephesians 2 can be broken down in this way: Salvation is by grace (God's part) and by faith (man's part). 

So what are the 'actions' required by this active, obedient faith? Well, first we have to possess faith. Where do we get it? Romans 10:17 supplies the answer, "Faith come from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of God." We receive this faith by 'hearing' the Word preached or by studying the Word on our own. Either way, as is pointed out in the verses immediately prior to this, "How can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" We cannot receive this faith unless we know the Word of God. That is why it is important to share your faith with non-believers. That is why we have a preacher, or evangelist, whose job is to get up in front of the body each week and proclaim the Gospel. 

So the first step to salvation is to have faith, or 'to believe'. Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." 

2 - REPENT 

The second step in our responsibility, as part of our active faith, is to repent of our sins. The word 'repent' means 'to change'. We aren't to just merely confess our sins, as some seem to believe is all that is required, we are called to change or turn away from them. This is a function of an active faith, it requires action on our part. Paul preached to the men of Athens in Acts 17, telling them to turn away from worshipping idols. He said in verses 29 and 30, "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent." Jesus said in Luke 13:3, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Peter preached in Acts chapter 3 verse 19, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out." Jesus told the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2, verse 5, "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place." 

Paul met with the elders of the church in Ephesus and told them in Acts 20:21, "I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus." Paul also preached regarding repentance in an active sense in Acts 26:20, "I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds." Quite simply, to repent is to have an active obedience of Christ. 

That repentance is a requirement of salvation is never more clear than in II Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

God does not want us to perish, He wants us to be saved, and is willing to wait for us to repent. It is obvious from this passage that man must repent from his sins, the very thing that separated him from God, to be saved. 

3 – CONFESSING CHRIST 

The next step in the Biblical teaching on salvation is the confession that Jesus is the Son of God, the risen Savior. In Matthew 10:32 Jesus says, "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven." We know that Peter's confession in Matthew 16:16 that Jesus is the Son of the Living God is the foundation on which the church is built. Romans 10:9 says, "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." Without question, this passage teaches that confession of the Lordship of Jesus is required for salvation. Let's look at others: 

- Hebrews 3:1: "Therefore, my brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess." 

- II Timothy 2:19: "Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription, 'The Lord knows those who are His', and, 'Everyone who confessed the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.'" 

- II Corinthians 9:13"Men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the Gospel of Christ." Again, an obedient faith! 

- I Timothy 6:12,13: "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession." 

How important is it that we confess Christ as the risen Son of God? So much so that everyone will do it, either by their own free will leading to salvation, or by force on the Day of Judgment. Look at Philippians 2:9-11: "Therefore God exalted Him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." We will make the good confession, whether or not we want to, to the glory of God the Father!

4 – BAPTISM 

Let's go back to Acts 2:37. When the Jews of every nation asked Peter, after they had been convicted in their hearts (believed), what they needed to do, he answered them: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of yours sins." So, looking at the Biblical steps to salvation, we have found that we need to believe, repent, confess Jesus as Lord, and finally we need to be baptized in the name of Christ. 

Perhaps no other subject in the Bible has created more discussion and disagreement than baptism. Many do not believe it is necessary to be saved. Many believe that it is only an outward sign of obedience after you have been saved. Some believe it is performed on infants, not by their own choosing, and to cover sins they themselves have not committed. Some believe that sprinkling is all you need to do, others think it is pouring water on the candidate’s head, still others think that immersion is required. You can get yourself into quite an argument regarding this subject, even within progressive-minded members of the church of Christ. So, let's move away from the emotion and go straight to the source; the Bible. What does it say about the necessity of baptism in the plan of salvation? 

First of all, the word baptism in the original Greek language is "baptidzo", which means to "dip, plunge, submerge or immerse." The original intent was immersion. There is no New Testament baptism recorded other than a baptism of immersion. Jesus, Himself, was immersed. Matthew 3:16, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He came up out of the water." It is also interesting to note that it was at Jesus' baptism that the Bible records the first public declaration from God of Jesus being His Son. 

Secondly, Jesus Himself commanded baptism. Before He ascended, He told the disciples in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 

In Mark 16:16 Jesus says, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." NOTE THE ORDER OF WHAT JESUS SAID TO DO:

1) Believe 2) Baptized 3) Saved. Why is it that so many teach that the order is

1) Believe 2) Saved 3) Baptized? That is NOT what Jesus said!

Thirdly, as Peter did in Acts 2, all the Apostles taught baptism. These were the men that Jesus trained Himself to lead the way, the men that God choose to spread His church on earth. We have to assume that since Jesus Himself commanded it, that the men whom He trained both taught it and practiced it, that it was meant to be required. Let's look at additional scriptures that talk of baptism: 

- Galatians 3:26-29: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Every person, no matter what his or her circumstances is clothed, or covered, with Jesus at baptism. 

- Romans 6:3- 5, "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection." When we are baptized, we receive the gift of a new life, a resurrection from death, just as Christ did. When did we receive this? At baptism! 

- I Peter 3:21 (Peter is talking of Noah's ark) "In it (the ark) only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Peter is making the comparison between the water of the flood and the water of baptism. It is not to clean you physically, but spiritually. Baptism "that now saves you." 

Many have argued through the years that baptism is, in fact, a work of man. It therefore cannot be required since we cannot be saved "by works, so no one can boast." Is baptism a 'work' of man? What does the Bible teach? Colossians 2:11-12 says, "In Him (Jesus) you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead." Baptism is NOT a work by the hands of man, like physical circumcision, it IS the work of God, a 'circumcision' done by Christ! 

There are those who take some of the scriptures we have looked at today and use them incorrectly, independent of one another. They will say that the Bible says belief is all that is required to be saved, or that confession of Christ is all we need, or repenting is the only step. To believe this requires that you accept that some Scriptures are more important than others. Since 2 Timothy 3:15, 16 says, all Scripture is God breathed, this reasoning is faulty. If God said that something is required for salvation, then we must obey Him. Eternal salvation is too important to risk by not completing all the steps that the Bible indicates. 

The Bible says In Philippians 2:12 that we are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." It is not something we are to take lightly or without thorough study of what God's plan is. If you haven't made that decision, or if you know someone who hasn't, I urge you to study what the Bible has to say and not rely on what man has to say. Your soul is worth the effort.