{"id":206,"date":"2004-10-11T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-10-11T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/10\/what_is_salvati_1.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:48:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:48:40","slug":"what_is_salvati_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/10\/what_is_salvati_1.shtml","title":{"rendered":"What is Salvation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: This is a particularly long post, but the subject matter deserves it. I had thought to break it into several different posts, but thought it best to keep it, and any resulting discussion, together in one place. It also serves to answer a series of posts that I have done on Christian fundamentals *. The things enumerated here are the very core of what we, as Christians, ought to stnad united on.<\/i>
\nIn the process of this long conversation <\/a>at Virusdoc, the question came up – what is salvation? Sounds simple enough, but it seemed (incorrectly I believe) that some commenters were contending salvation to be the mere forgiveness of sins. Is this all that salvation is? Or is salvation merely the receipt of a ticket to heaven? What does it entail? The conversation is still going on there, but has long drifted away from the question of what salvation is (not even the original topic either.) I have kept that question in the back of my mind since, however. I’m going to make a go at answering it.
\nLet me start by saying that neither simple explanation above seems adequate for what is described as salvation in the NT. Even the simple term ‘saved’ implies more than that. How can one be saved unless they are in peril? So our salvation<\/i> implies a sort of rescue. To be rescued one must be in a danger greater that they can handle themselves. After all, if they could handle it they would not need saving, would they? You don’t ‘save’ a mere swimmer, but one who is drowning. It also implies a change of state, from danger to safety. If one is drowning and is then saved, the implication is that they are no longer in the water, or a least have been given some means of support which they lacked before and are therefore out of danger.
\nAnother part of any salvation from danger is the decision to get help. Here the drowning analogy tends to fall apart as most folks who are drowning know it<\/i> and are desperate for help. However, most of us are familiar with the concept that the first thing an addict needs to do is realize they are one. Without that realization, there is no desire to change and hope for recovery. Of course, realization is only the first step, one must then decide to pursue change. I imagine there are hundreds of drunks and addicts out there who freely admit that is who they are and have no desire to change it.
\nThe question in regards to Christian salvation, then, is this: What sort of danger are we in? If we need to be saved, what do we need saved from? Certainly, a destiny in Hell is part of that, but is this all? Is it only for the afterlife that we are in danger? Jesus said that he came to give us life to the full (John 10:10), implying that our salvation is more than being with God after death. It seems that if all we have been granted is an eternity with God, it makes no sense to leave us here on earth after our salvation. In fact, in Acts 5:20 God describes being a Christian as a new type of life. It’s something new, not seen before. So salvation has implications on who we are and how we live here on Earth as well as after death.
\nChristian salvation then, it seems to me, has three parts – realization of our peril, a decision to abandon our sinful ways followed by a new life.
\nRealization of the Problem<\/b>
\nSo what is the peril that plagues us? Why is it that we need to be saved? Put plainly, it’s sin. Sin is what plagues us all. I’m convinced that it is the root of all of our troubles. Dig to the bottom of any of our struggles, conflicts or problems and you’ll find sin. Sometimes it’s easy to spot, sometimes not so easy, but none the less it is there. Our problem is that we do not take sin seriously. Our society sin is not serious, its funny. When I was a kid I can remember going to barbershop singing events with my father. One of the men attending would frequently wear a shirt that said “Wanna sing?” on the back. Except he thought it was funny to blank out the ‘g’ at the end so it said “Wanna sin?” Jaguar<\/a> has a new marketing campaign for it’s XJ8L that touts it as so good it’s sinful (see link in lower right of their page). It lists the 7 deadly sins (lust, greed, pride, sloth, envy, wrath and gluttony) and shows how the new car satisfies each one. Sin as a virtue.
\nBut the problem isn’t so much the sin itself, but what that sin produces. The scriptures teach clearly that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). We can look around and see the obvious effects of sin in each other’s life. But the real problem is that our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). In our sinful behavior we have not only hurt our lives here on Earth, we have built a wall between us and God. It does not matter how good or loving God is, we have cut ourselves off from Him.
\nBut we, in our pride, are blinded to that reality. We like to think that we are just fine. We are not murderers or rapists, we are Good People. But God does not have that standard, he has a higher one. If we look in passages like Galatians 5:19-21 and Colossians 3:5-10 we quickly see that we are guilty as charged, absolute sinners. We have been angry or drunk, we’ve used filthy language, we’ve lusted and in doing so we’ve separated ourselves from God. Jesus Himself convicts us in Luke 9:23-26 where He tells us that self denial is a requirement in order to follow God. In Luke 14:25-33 He tells us that nothing, not even our closest relationships, can match our love for Him. In fact we must give up everything, complete surrender, in order to be His disciple. If that weren’t enough, we have the admonition in James 4:19 that tells us that we are in sin when we know of good that we could do, but don’t do it. Who can say that they measure up to God’s standards as described in these verses (and others)?
\nBefore we can be saved, we must understand that is us, through our sin, who have built a wall between ourselves and God. We must stand face to face with our extreme shortcomings before God and own up to them. We must absolutely recognize and realize our need for God’s grace, for though we’ve built the wall we cannot tear it down.
\nDecision Time<\/b>
\nOnce we have come to the realization of who we truly are before God, we have a decision to make. We can either continue in our sin, blatantly turning from God or we can commit to being different. Do you want to continue to add to that wall between the Almighty and yourself or do want to choose a different path? If we are going to receive salvation God demands repentance. Repentance is simply a decision to take a different path. It’s not a commitment to perfection, it’s a direction change. I was once told that the word sprung from a military term that meant to do an about face. You were going east, turn and go west. You were living your way, now you will live God’s way.
\nThe fact remains that we are not capable of living perfectly from this point on, let alone to make up for our past shortcomings, but that does not change the fact that God expects repentance. The verses mentioned above make it clear that people whose lives are characterized by sin cannot be saved. Jesus said in Luke 13:1-7 that unless we repent, we will perish. In response to the people’s plea of “What shall we do?” when confronted with their sinfulness, Peter replied that they should repent (Acts 2:36-38). Repentance was the expected response to the message of God (Matthew 11:20-24, Luke 3:7-9), in fact it was to produce repentance in sinners that Jesus came (Luke 5:32). God loves it when we repent (Luke 15:1-11). Isn’t that the point of the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)?
\nThere are many more passages that speak to the necessity of repentance. See Acts 3:19, Acts 5:31, Acts 17:30, Acts 20:21, Acts 26:20; 2 Corinthians 7; 2 Timothy 2:25; 2 Peter 3:9, Revelation 2-3. Repentance is an undeniable part of our salvation. We have wronged God. He created us to be a certain way and we have turned from that and Him, nearly at ever opportunity available. Once we are aware of that, we can remain that way, mocking God, or we can choose to turn away from our sin.
\nReconciliation<\/b>
\nWe’ve realized our problem (separation from God due to our sin) and in light of what we’ve done we have determined to take a new path, God’s path. As important as these first two aspects of salvation are, they cannot save us. Realization of our sinfulness does not bring us closer to God in and of itself; it can only point us toward repentance. And though we repent with all our might, even If we somehow remained perfect from here forward, we cannot earn our way into God’s good graces. We need forgiveness, reconciliation.
\nForgiveness, even among men, cannot be earned. Forgiveness cannot be demanded. It cannot be bought. It can only be granted by the one sinned against. The sinner has no power to produce it. It can only come through the grace of the one wronged. In our relationships we try though, don’t we? We act so much nicer and serve and kiss up to the one we’ve wronged, hoping for forgiveness. And when we’ve been wronged, we are tempted to take advantage and squeeze some extra ‘good deeds’ from the sinner before letting them off the hook. Thankfully our God is not like that. He is willing to forgive, more than that, He longs<\/i> for us (Luke 15:11-32). All he asks from us is to love Him and to completely to surrender to Him (Luke 14:25-33) and turn our lives over to Him.
\nGod, in His amazing love and mercy, has graciously offered us a means to wipe our slate clean. He has sent us Jesus to bring forgiveness to the world (John 3:16, Acts 5:31, 13:38, 26:18, Eph. 1:7). Through Jesus’ death and ultimate sacrifice on the cross, our debt is repaid. God’s demand for justice is satisfied (Romans 3:21-26). Our sins demanded punishment (Eph. 2:3) and God, in His mercy, sent Jesus to take it for us (1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53). Make no mistake; it is because of God’s mercy that we have the opportunity to be reconciled to Him.
\nBut how is it accomplished? The book of Hebrews gives us incredible insight into how Jesus’ sacrifice fits into the Old Testament law and sacrifices, both fulfilling them and ending them. That knowledge, however, does not help us to actually connect<\/i> with God’s grace in Jesus. God has put this out there, but how do we experience it? We simply get baptized.
\nToday there are many different ideas about baptism, but in the NT church they only had one definition (Eph. 4:4). Hebrews 6:1-2 talks about the NT Christians being taught about baptism, describes it as an ‘elementary teaching’, but it does not go into detail about what was taught. The interesting thing is that there is no single passage in the Bible where we can look to have baptism defined and described for us. We must dig through many passages, piecing the puzzle together, to discover what baptism meant to the NT church. Today people talk of infant baptism or baptism as an outward sign of an inward grace, the Bible never talks about baptism in those terms. It speaks of baptism always at the point of conversion and it is described as providing salvation.
\nBaptism is the means provided by God for us to receive forgiveness. When Peter preached that first message of the Good News on Pentecost in Acts 2, he told the convicted masses to repent and get baptized ‘for the forgiveness’ of sins. Paul understood baptism to be for our forgiveness when he wrote the book of Romans. In Romans 6:1-10 Paul describes our connection to the saving power of Jesus blood and crucifixion as happening through our baptism. When Paul was baptized he was told to do so to wash his sins away (Acts 22:16). Peter comes right out and says it in 1 Peter 3:20-21: baptism saves us. He takes pains to remind us that it is not due to a physical clean up, no it’s an internal transformation that happens when we are baptized. God is doing the work, not us. Jesus told the twelve in Mark 16:16 that it is our belief and our baptism together that saves.
\nThe early church believed the same thing. For this point I’ll quote from a short paper<\/a> on baptism by my friend Douglas Jacoby<\/a>:<\/p>\n

References to baptism in the patristic literature abound! It is extremely clear that for the first few centuries everyone was in agreement that baptism was for the forgiveness of sins, and was the only way to be saved. We will limit our survey to the earliest patristic writers.<\/p>\n