Salvation Series 1: Salvation

By Lance Mosher

You hear a lot of churchgoers talk about “salvation.” Usually, the one talking about salvation assumes that the one(s) he or she is talking to knows the concept of biblical salvation. However, many times, that is not the case. Do you know the biblical concept of salvation?

Biblical Salvation (Present tense)

Before going much further, we need to understand what the Bible says we need to be saved from. Though it will be explored in much more detail in the next lesson, I’ll put it simply here. Human beings need to be saved from the consequences of sin. Before sin even existed, God told the very first man on earth that sin has consequences (Genesis 2:16-17). He still tells us that today (Romans 6:23). Sin separates people from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), and if it’s not dealt with, if we’re not “saved,” that separation will turn into an eternal state (2 Thessalonians 1:6-11).

After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus sent His apostles into all the world, beginning in Jerusalem, to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8). Peter told his audience during the very first sermon the apostles preached, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” (Acts 2:40). When a person belongs to the world, following his or her own desires, that person is not saved and is against God.

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4.

Being in the world produces the deeds of the flesh, instead of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). Such people are choosing to miss out in the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). When one is biblically saved, he or she is transferred from being a slave of sin to being a servant of righteousness (Romans 6:16-18). One who is saved has gone from walking in the flesh to walking in the Spirit (Romans 8). Being saved means being purchased, redeemed by God (1 Corinthians 6:20), having all sins forgiven (Acts 2:38; 1 John 1:5-10). One who is unsaved is outside of the family of God. However, one who is saved has been adopted into the family of God and has been given a heavenly inheritance (Galatians 3:26-29)!

Biblical Salvation (Future tense)

Most of the New Testament was written to people who were already saved (see the first few verses of most NT books). Many of the New Testament authors warned their audience of the dangers of falling back into the hands of Satan.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8.

Just because one is “saved,” that does not mean he or she will be completely immune to temptation. Biblically saved people’s names “are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3). However, their bodies are still on the earth, where temptation, sin, evil, pain, suffering, loss, and death are prevalent. God never promises complete safety from such things for the saved. Instead, He promises strength for endurance and a reward for those who remain faithful until death (1 Corinthians 10:13; Revelation 2:10; 3:5). That is why the Bible sometimes refers to salvation as a future event, “ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5), even for those who have already been forgiven.

The apostle Peter originally wrote his letters to a group of people who were being mistreated for their faith. Notice how he exhorts them to anticipate the day of salvation.

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:6-9.

The Christian lives his or her life in joyful expectation of the revelation and judgement of Christ.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4.

The one outside of Christ should fear that day.

Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17.

Conclusion

The apostle Paul knew what it meant to be saved. While in prison, while tormented by the world around him, he still knew where his salvation was.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21.

Can you express those words today? We have spent some time exploring the biblical concept of salvation. In the next issue, we need to explore the need for salvation. Stay tuned.

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