Salvation

CONTENTS

 

The Issue The First Adam Satan The Sinner The Last Adam The Mediator Liberty and Life The Lord Jesus Christ The Principle of Grace Acceptance With God Assurance of Salvation Eternal Security

The Issue

My desire is that you will find this information written to you, personally, and that it will prove to be a helpful explanation of the new birth. Throughout this web page, supporting quotations from the Bible (New Scofield/King James Version) are shown in purple text.

Come along then, and within the next few screens you should know whether or not this is for you. Let's first consider some real-life examples so that you may determine just where you stand in this regard.

TYPICAL EXAMPLES -- My wife, Cornelia, grew up in a denominational church and school system, reaching adulthood without knowing how to become a Christian. As a young woman she began a serious search for the truth, and that by means of studying theological books.

After several years of this futile attempt she was invited to attend a weekly Bible class. It was in her study of the Book, the very Word of God, that Cornelia not only learned how to become Christian, but she accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior and was born again. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Learn of me... and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:28,29).

My experience was at the opposite end of the spectrum. Raised apart from the church or religious education, I attempted to be completely self-sufficient and independent of God. On the basis of that attitude I was brought down to the sad existence of a poor drunkard. It was then, at the age of twenty-seven, that I finally saw myself as sinful and lost, with the grim prospect of facing a holy God in judgment.

All I could do was reach out to God for mercy, and trust Him to accept me as a lost sinner in need of salvation. With that realization I soon received the Lord Jesus as my Savior and was born spiritually, into the family of God. "I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, in that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Timothy 1:12,13).

TYPICAL EXPERIENCES -- Your experience may be somewhat different from either of the above. Possibly you were raised in a Christian family, and your dear mother or a faithful Sunday School teacher led you to "ask Jesus in your heart" at a very tender age -- but nothing ever came of it.

Or, something did come of it, and you grew up enjoying Sunday School, church, and youth activities, until college or early marriage -- and then it all faded away. The remains are but a bit of cold gray ash within, although there may still be a heart-yearning for God.

Or, at some time you may have been talked into making a "commitment" to Christ by a passing "soul winner", or at a revival meeting in some church or crusade -- but there haven't been any results worth mentioning.

Or, like so many others, you may have been turned off concerning Christianity because of the errant examples of some Christians.

Or -- the most common case of all -- you may have been a good church member for years, and felt that this constituted being a Christian.

On the other hand, in all honesty you may have felt unworthy in yourself ever to be accepted by God, and that has kept you from becoming a Christian.

THE ONE THING -- Dear friend, regardless of your past experience or your present condition, there is but one thing that matters now! If you realize that you are not a born-again Christian, and if you acknowledge that you are a sinner and need the Savior, then God says to you in His Word: "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him" (Isaiah 55:6,7).

If you sincerely want to be born again, then this material is written for you.

However, if you feel that you are not yet ready to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, the truths set forth here may prepare you to put your trust in the One who is the Truth, the Savior who lovingly says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 14:6; 8:32).

The First Adam

Out of idle curiosity, or a genuine attempt to find out how to become a Christian, or from some other motivation, you may have picked up the Bible at one time or another and commenced reading at the first chapter of Genesis.

Very likely you managed to cover a few pages, or even chapters, and that was it. All that you read failed to make any sense, and you were quite certain that it didn't relate to your situation anyhow.

You don't mind being totally wrong if it leads to becoming totally right, do you? Let's open the Bible to the first chapter, and consider the 26th verse. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26).

This bit of Scripture embodies the truth that has to do with you personally, the key that will explain the new birth.

LOUD AND CLEAR -- Before we settle down to the business of the Bible, let it be said that we are not going into great detail -- you will have the rest of your life for that. You only have time now for the basic essentials.

You may already have been victimized by the wrong practice of many evangelists and preachers. In their well-meaning zeal they often berate and exhort their hearers for an hour or so, and almost as an afterthought tack on a brief summary of the Gospel. Then the bewildered and uninformed sinner is pressured into "going forward" to make the eternal decision to be saved... before he is even aware that he is lost!

To help rectify the above deficiency, our purpose here is to make the truths of salvation crystal clear to you. One has the right to be given sufficient truth whereby to make a clear decision.

GOD'S PURPOSE -- With that ever in mind, let us lock in on this Scripture: "God said, Let us make man in our image." That is precisely what God did. "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul" (1 Corinthians 15:45). God is love, and love must have an object upon which to lavish itself. Hence God made the first man in His image that He might give His love, and in turn receive man's love.

GOD'S IMAGE -- Adams's likeness to God was not a physical image, but one of personhood. God is a Person, man is a person. Man was endowed with the faculties of intellect, emotion, and volition so that God could share with him His life, love, and purpose. Thus they would enjoy fellowship.

God is infinite, uncreated, heavenly, the source of all life; God's first man was finite, created, earthly. God exists on the divine plane; Adam was made on the human plane -- hence they were immeasurably separate in being, but alike in the faculties of personhood.

This "image" verse has to do with you personally, so keep your eye on Adam and you will be halfway to your goal!

God made Adam to be the source, the prototype, the head, the representative man of the entire race. All the human family was to spring from Adam and Eve. In that way the personhood and the human characteristics of Adam would be instilled in the race through the inherited oneness of nature.

The initial phase of God's eternal purpose for mankind was that this representative man would grow in His moral image, and thereby become increasingly like God. By that means the race that came from Adam would continue in fellowship with God, and God with man.

GOD's CONDITION -- God was Creator, and Adam created; therefore, God was sovereign, and Adam subject. While Adam had complete liberty to develop in every way in line with God's eternal purpose and for his own eternal benefit, he must remain within the circle of God's beneficent will.

To establish the sphere of His will for Adam, God set forth a single condition. He said to Adam, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:16,17).

In order for Adam to develop into a responsible and loving companion to God, not a mere automaton or slave, it was necessary that God give him a choice: to accept God's will -- the way of eternal life; or to reject God's will -- the way of eternal death.

Any deviation from the will of God is lawlessness; it is sin. And, of necessity, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). God is so utterly holy and pure that the result of sin must be eternal banishment from his presence.

At first thought one might be tempted to think that God was extremely harsh and unreasonable with Adam. Death for just one disobedience, and the first one at that? Why, God didn't even say, "That's once!"

But when one realizes something of the only possible relationship between Creator and creature, the unbelievable consequences of creature rebellion allow, there was no choice on God's part but that He to lay down the ultimate penalty for sin.  "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity" (Habakkuk 1:12,13).

Satan

THE TEMPTER -- Enter Satan: enter death! This brilliant celestial being, the highest in God's angelic hierarchy, was cast down from his exalted estate because of the sin of pride. He aspired and conspired to take over the very Throne of God, and to become as God. For this God had to condemn him and his followers to ultimate eternal death in the lake of fire. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer.... How art thou cut down to the ground.... For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.... I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to sheol." "And the devil...was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone..." (Isaiah 14:12-15; Revelation 20:10).

In saying "I will," Satan rebelled against God's will. Satan's failure to conquer God's throne in heaven didn't deter him from attempting to gain control of this world and the human race at its inception. He realized that if he could cause Adam to disobey God, he would thereby win the entire human race at its inception. He realized that if he could cause Adam to disobey God, he would thereby win the entire human race and thus become the god of this world.

Again the reminder to keep your eye on your representative man, because what happened to him happened to you. As you observe Adam, you will learn why you must be born again.

THE TEMPTED - In the face of God's protective command, and His gracious warning of death as the consequence of disobedience, Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And that is exactly what they did.

They chose Satan's way over against the will of God! That was sin. It resulted in spiritual death which cut them off from God, who is the source of life. Years later they died physically--physical death being the ultimate result of spiritual death. 

After he died spiritually, and before he died physically, "Adam begot a son in his own likeness, after his image" (Genesis 5:3). Hence he brought forth the condemned, Satan-bound human race in his own sinful image. Man fell from innocence to enmity toward God!

To see Adam the sinner is to see yourself. You were born into this world possessed of a sinful nature inherited from your fallen source. You were born a sinner, and are therefore spiritually dead. Spiritual death results in separation from God forever--that is hell.

Don't take my word for it, but hear God in His Word. "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). And sin of necessity brought its wages. "Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation" (Romans 5:18).

CONDEMNATION COMPOUNDED - Actually, you lie under a dual condemnation: for Adam's sin, and for your own. In Ephesians chapter 2, God speaks of sinners as being "dead in trespasses and sins," and "by nature the children of wrath; having no hope, and without God in the world" (vv. 1,3). "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

A pretty tight spot to be in! Here you are, not only condemned and headed for the judgment of the Great White Throne because you have sinned against God by not trusting Him, but you are equally condemned because you have a sinful nature inherited from Adam.

Since you have been born wrong, and have done wrong, you are spiritually bankrupt. Wrong family (root), and wrong conduct (fruit). "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

The Sinner

QUESTION - You have now reached the half-way mark to the goal of how to become a Christian. "Having no hope, and without God in the world," there is only one way left to go. The way up is down, as you well soon see.

There is but one provision by which to escape the condemned family: a new family! And there is but one provision by which to enter that family: a new birth! If you were to ask, "how can this be?" you would not be the first to pose that question. Now let's find the answer in the Word of God.

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews in Jesus' day, was one of the foremost theological teachers in Judaism at that time. In his need he sought out the Lord Jesus, and received some totally unexpected answers to his questions.

ANSWER - The Lord Jesus said to this seeking sinner, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus then asked, "How can a man be born when he is old" Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" (John 3:3,4).

The Lord Jesus reemphasized, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.... Nicodemus answered, and said unto him, How can these things be?" The very same question you may have asked. "Jesus answered, and said unto him, Art thou a teacher in Israel, and knowest not these things?" (John 3:7,9,10).

BLINDNESS - How could such a highly intellectual and theologically astute religious doctor come to such a wrong interpretation of the most important statement he had ever heard or ever would hear? Easy. Wrong family! Hence he was a "blind leader of the blind".

The Apostle Paul, another one-time "blind" leader and teacher of Israel, wrote after he had received his spiritual sight, "If our gospel be hidden it is hidden to them that are lost, in whom the god of this age (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Corinthians 4:3,4).

Satan conquered Adam and the human race by means of deceit, thus he became the arch-usurper--the god of this world and the Adamic race. He has blinded the mind of the natural man and has placed enmity in man's heart against God, in order to prevent him from turning to the Savior. 

The Bible says that "the carnal (Adamic) mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." "There is none righteous, no not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 3:10,11). 

By now you may have something pressing quite heavily on your mind, such as, "All the time I have kept my eyes upon Adam there has been nothing in view but condemnation and death. Where is God in all this scene? He doesn't seem to have been able to do anything on my behalf, and Satan seems to have had about everything his own way. Worst of all, God has condemned me for something over which I had no control. It was not my choice to be born of the wrong family!"

GUILTY - Dear friend, I read you. And you are right...in part. It is true that you could not help being condemned in Adam, and therefore a lost sinner by nature. But it is also true that you are a condemned sinner by your own personal choice--in thought, word, and deed. 

Is it not true that you have "broken every commandment in the Book"? Have you even kept the first one? "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (Matthew 22:37,38; James 2:10).

Oh, you have earned your condemnation before God all right, and that because of your self-centered heart and will. God says that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

Like Satan you have said, "I will" in the face of God's will to the contrary. What is more, as the sinful clay you have no right to question the holy, sovereign Potter. "Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" (Romans 9:20).

When it comes to being a lost sinner, you are a self-made person.

It is best to admit to God that He is right after all, and that you are wrong, wrong, wrong. And the good news is that God has been very much on the scene all the time, and that on your behalf!

"Satan in never so completely defeated as in his apparent victories!"

The Last Adam

Enter the Last Adam: enter Life! Did you know that God has two Adams, two contrasting representative men as heads of two completely different streams of humanity? "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit" (1Corinthians 15:45). Note the disparity between these two sources: "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:47).

THE FALLEN ADAM - The first man brought forth the sinful, earthly race by natural generation. The Second Man is bringing forth the righteous, heavenly race by supernatural regeneration. The wrong family is entered by physical birth; the right family is entered by the "new birth". 

Watch carefully now, and see what God has done for you. Having kept your eye on the first Adam long enough, you can now keep your eyes on the Last Adam for all eternity. See how God has been silently working in order to consummate His original purpose of making man in His image.

THE RISEN ADAM - "God...hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person" (Hebrews 1:1-3).

The first Adam ceased to reflect the image of God because he rebelled and turned against God's will. The Last Adam maintained God's image because He confessed, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me" (John 6:38). 

God in mercy has given another Adam through whom He means to carry out His original purpose for you. He is no less than God the Son, and hence the express image of God. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). Actually, the failure of the first Adam set the scene for the triumph of the Last Adam.

The Lord Jesus is God's Last Adam because there would be no need for another. At the Cross He appeared to be a hopeless failure--but, "except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24).

SINLESS BIRTH - See how justly and perfectly God has wrought the plan of salvation. Your condemnation came by human birth, and your Redeemer came also by human birth. It has been said:

"The manner of the birth of Christ, termed the virgin birth, might better be defined as the virgin conception, for the birth itself was normal enough once He was conceived by the Holy Spirit."

The angel announced to the virgin Mary, "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.... The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:31,35).

That was the manner by which the Son of God entered the human race. The difference was that He as God was born sinless, while we were born "dead in trespasses and sins." And, during His life on earth, He "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). 

Remember now, in order for God to justly and perfectly replace the sinful first Adam, His Last Adam had to succeed where the first Adam failed. He had to remain faithful to God under the same circumstances and limitations in which the first man brought ruin. Further, He had to be tempted to do the same thing, in the same way, by the same person, as was the first Adam. 

RE-ENTER SATAN - In Luke 4 we see that the Holy Spirit led the Lord Jesus into the desert, where He fasted for forty days. When the Last Adam's hunger was acute, Satan tried to tempt Him to eat--the very temptation by which he had conquered the first Adam. 

Satan launched his attack on the Last Adam, knowing that if he could get Him to step outside God's will and go His own way, he would thereby conquer the last representative Man. He would then have all and be as God.

Keep in mind that the Lord Jesus was not facing this temptation for His own sake, but for yours! He was doing it as your Substitute in order that He might become your Savior.

Satan cast his first fiery dart at the Lord Jesus by saying, "If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread" (Luke 4:3). Being God, the Lord Jesus could have done it.

Famished as He was, He just parried the deadly dart with Scripture: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God" (Luke 4:4). As the Last Adam, the Lord Jesus was in glad subjection to His Father, and He refused to do anything contrary to God's will for Him. "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God" (Hebrews 10:9).

When food failed, Satan projected his power play. Taking the Lord onto a high mountain, he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Then he said to Him, "All this authority will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it" (Luke 4:6).

Here, Satan had the effrontery to offer the world to the very One whom God has "appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:2).  Notice that the Lord Jesus did not challenge Satan's claim nor question his offer, but by His silence acknowledged that Satan is indeed the god of this present world.

Satan finally revealed his all-consuming lust for the ultimate.  "If thou, therefore, will worship me, all shall be thine"  (Luke 4:7).  Think of it!  Satan, the implacable foe of the Most High God, seeking to bribe God the Son into worshipping the usurper.  Here was his boldest bid to become as God.

But the Last Adam again effortlessly cut down the Enemy with the sword of the Lord: "Get thee behind Me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord, they God, and Him only shall thou serve"  (Luke 4:8). 

The Mediator

Enter the Mediator: enter justice! Now we come to another wonderful aspect of God's work on your behalf. He sent His beloved Son from heaven, not only to be your Last Adam, but to be the Mediator between Himself and you. A Mediator is one who stands between two parties to reconcile their differences when there is a breach between them. And the gulf between you and God is considerable.

REQUIREMENTS - The Lord Jesus is God's only Mediator. And He is the only possible mediator for you. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).

A mediator must be one who is accepted and trusted by both parties involved. God said of the Lord Jesus, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matthew 17:5). He asks you to receive His Son. You enter into your part of the mediation by accepting and trusting God's Mediator. 

In order to be the Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus had to partake of both God's nature and man's nature. That is mediation--He entered into the very nature of both parties involved! Are you not beginning to be gripped by the marvel of all this?

The Lord Jesus always was God; He had God's nature from all eternity. By being born of the virgin Mary, He took upon Himself the nature of man. He is referred to in the Scriptures as both "Son of God" and "Son of man".

PAID IN FULL - Observe what else the Word of God says of Him: "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant (the Last Adam), and was made in the likeness of men; and, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:6-8).

Our Lord willingly shed His life-blood on the Cross, dying the most agonizing and shameful criminal death for you. Yes, the Lamb of God was sacrificed in order to pay your penalty. "Without shedding of blood is no remission (forgiveness)" (Hebrews 9:22).

Your blessed Substitute "made peace through the blood of his cross.... And you, that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his (God's) sight" (Colossians 1:20-22).

Further, as Mediator, the Lord Jesus must equally represent both God and man. Think of that! He stood between the holy God and the sinful human race. He had to be one who would satisfy every claim of God upon man, and every claim of man upon God. Being your Creator, God has considerable claim upon you, does He not?

STAKE YOUR CLAIM! - There is but one legitimate claim that you have upon God, and that is that you are condemned and there is absolutely nothing you can do to alter the fact. Although you had nothing to do with your birth into the wrong family, of your own volition you established your condemnation.

No matter how much you try to alter your condition, or how good you may attempt to be, you are still drawing from the wrong source, one that is totally unacceptable to God. So the claim you have upon Him is, "God, I can do nothing about my spiritual position, or condition. You will have to undertake for me." 

And He has already done that which is required for your personal case! He sent His Son to take your place in the death that sin required--the Lord Jesus took upon Him that death and paid the penalty for you. 

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, who raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God" (1 Peter 1:18-21).

Liberty and Life

All that you have considered thus far adds up to this: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians. 15:22). Your only hope is to be freed from eternal death in Adam, and to be born again so that you have eternal life in Christ. 

FROM BAD TO GOOD - When you are able to face up to the bad news, and acknowledge that Satan has you hopelessly bound in guilt, condemnation, and death; it is then, and not until then, that God comes to your rescue and enables you to embrace the Gospel, the good news.

And was there ever such good news? "Forasmuch, then, as the children (of Adam) are partakers of flesh and blood, he (the Last Adam) also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews. 2:14,15). 

THE DIVINE OFFER - God has always taken the initiative. He made the first and every other move toward you, while all your moves have been away from Him. But the blessed "Hound of Heaven" has finally overtaken you.

As one has so well put it, "Mulling over this solitary journey afterward, I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued. Footsteps padding behind me; a following shadow, a Hound of Heaven, so near that I could feel the warm breath on my neck.

"I know I was making for somewhere, some place of light; seeking some ultimate fulfillment of which another reborn me would be extricated from the existing husk of a fleshly egotistic me, like a butterfly from a chrysalis. 

"I was also in flight. Being chased; the pursuing and the pursuit, the quest and the flight, merging the last into one single immanence of luminosity."

Just as the Father embraced his prodigal son, so God's love receives you "as is" . "God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God loves us the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way.

Could the good news of the Gospel be more explicit? "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "Whosoever" includes you: you can thank God for that! You escape everlasting death and enter into everlasting life by believing on the Son. Born to die, you are reborn to live. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life" (John 3:36).

What a relief! God laid all your sins upon His perfect Son when He was on the Cross of Calvary. The Lord Jesus took all your sin into death, thereby paying for your justly-earned penalty. Since He Himself had not sin, He was free to come out from under the paid penalty and rise from the dead. He "was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

FREELY FORGIVEN - Now God can justly say to you, "Full payment has been made. Receive My beloved Son as your personal payment, and you will be free from the first Adam and born again into the Last Adam."

Yes, Jesus paid it all! "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.... For he hath made him (Jesus), who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians. 5:18,21).

Here is a word from God to better enable you to close in on the subject at hand. He says to you, in love, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5). 

Enough! No works, no changing; He just asks you to trust Him as you are: an ungodly sinner. Being a sinful child of Adam, you fully qualify for God's gift of His Son. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "For Christ also hath once suffered for (your) sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Peter 3:18). 

THIS IS IT! - You have earned your wages, but God offers you His free Gift before you have to collect them. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Romans 6:23). If, right now, you want to receive the Savior, there are but two words remaining! 

"REPENT" - How to be born again consists of "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). Repentance means to turn about, to change one's mind. God, the Creator of the universe, asks you to turn from your way and choose His way. And He has personally paid your (Adamic) penalty on the Cross so that you are legally free to make the right choice. "God... commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).

Now you can freely pray to Him, "O God, I want You to be my heavenly Father, and I choose to go Your way." 

"BELIEVE" - "Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." When you repent and turn to God as your Father, there is no longer any question about trusting God the Son as you Savior. On the basis of what you know of your spiritual need, and what you have learned about Christ's provision, you may now say to Him, "Lord Jesus, I thank you from my heart for dying for my sins, and I now receive You as my own Savior."

That, dear friend, is how to become a born-again Christian.

The Lord Jesus Christ

WHAT HAPPENED? - As a Christian, it is important for you to know something of what happens to you when you reject the first Adam and accept the Last Adam. You know you have become a Christian, not on the basis of what you feel or don't feel, but upon Whom you have believed and therefore have received. "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12).

PERSONAL - As Adam brought death by your natural birth, so the Lord Jesus brings life by your spiritual birth. When you accept the Savior, you not only receive what He did for you on the Cross, but you receive the One who did it. By His Holy Spirit, He comes into your spirit to be your Christian life. "Christ, who is our life" (Colossians 3:4).

When you place your trust in the Lord Jesus, God removes you from the fallen Adam family by the cutting-off death of the Cross, and He spiritually re-creates you as a member of the new heavenly race that springs from the Last Adam. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

ONENESS - As you were one with Adam by nature, you became one with the Lord Jesus by a new nature. God positions you in His Son by means of a spiritual birth, and He places His Son's very nature within your spirit so that you are now His child. Believing, we become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).

At the moment of your new birth, the Lord Jesus enters your spirit by means of God the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Christ. In that way you are in living and eternal union with God the Son. "I (Christ) will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (the Holy Spirit), that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.... At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:16,17,20).

LIFE HIMSELF - "Believing on God is really receiving what God gives." Becoming a born-again Christian is receiving and being indwelt by a Person. It is not a matter of feeling, but of scriptural fact. It is not making a commitment, or deciding to follow Him, or anything else. God gives you eternal life by giving you His Son who is life eternal. The Lord Jesus said, "I am...the life" (John 14:6).

"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath no life. 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 5:11-13).

SERVANT SATAN - Now you can see that Satan didn't ruin or alter God's original plan, after all. As a matter of fact, God used him to bring about His purpose for you. By the fallen Adam, Satan brought you under condemnation. But the Spirit-given realization of your lost condition led you to conviction of sin and to the Savior. "Satan is working within the limits of the eternal plan of God." And that in spite of the fact that He fell by originally exceeding those limits.

GROWTH - What is God's eternal purpose for you? Remember? "Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26). And the Lord Jesus is the "express image of his (God's) person" (Hebrews 1:3). Hence, by means of your new birth you were re-created in the image of God.

As you grow in your new life, you will grow in the expression of that image. That is what the Christian life is all about--becoming more and more like your Lord. Paul said of his converts, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).

As a Christian, God will be working out His eternal purpose for you, and slowly developing you into His likeness. Like the Father, and like the Son! "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:28,29).

You have begun a wonderful new life now, and it will continue throughout Eternity. All the while, you will be getting to know the Lord Jesus more fully; and by Him you will increasingly know and love your heavenly Father. "For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).

HEIR OF GOD - Keep in mind, the Lord Jesus is your very life now, and He will be forever. All that He is, He is for you. All that He has, He will give to you--and that will require all eternity! "For ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.... Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." "If children, then heirs--heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Galatians 3:26; 4:7; Romans 8:17).

Let us reverently listen to a portion of the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ just before He went to the Cross:

"Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent....

"And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one.... Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:1-3; 22,24).

The Principle of Grace

BORN BY GRACE - As a new Christian you are able to understand that you were born again on the principle of grace--the unearned, free gift of God. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord." "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8).

CONFORMED BY GRACE - As a new Christian it is important that you realize, also, that God saved you in order to conform you to the image of His Son. The Lord Jesus is the express image of God, and it is through Him that God realizes His original purpose: "Let us make man in our image."

LIVE BY GRACE - As a new Christian, moreover, you are to understand that your new life is to be lived on the same principle as your new birth--that of grace. "As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).

God created, God gave, God works, "For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). Your Father's good pleasure is that you may become like His beloved Son.

As a babe in Christ you are aware of new life and strength within, and your heart is filled with love for the Lord Jesus. You will become active in church, Bible study, Scripture memorization, and no doubt seek to win your unsaved relatives and friends to the Savior. All good, and beneficial.

WORKS VS. GRACE - In time, however--it may be a few months or a number of years--you may begin to falter in all of these areas. Your love for the Lord Jesus cools, and elements of your old life begin to reassert themselves.

Struggle as you may to regain your spiritual balance, you will only seem to fail the more. For you it becomes, "When I would do good, evil is present with me.... Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:21, 24).

By means of your struggle and failure to live the Christian life, the Lord Jesus is teaching you the indispensable grace principle of "not I, but Christ" (Galatians 2:20). During this downward path you will finally learn that you cannot live the Christian life in you own strength, nor even with the Lord's help.

THE GRACIOUS VINE - The Lord Jesus expressed this principle in John 15:5: "I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing."

Your part, as a branch in the Vine, is to rest in Him, depend upon Him, and fellowship with Him. You are joined to the Vine by nature, and His life will flow in and through you, "that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:11).

You will find it a great revelation--and relief--in the midst of your failure, to hear these words, "Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place" (2 Corinthians 2:14). You do not triumph by means of your own strength and strategy; it is your Father who gives you life and growth in His Son.

Regeneration by grace; growth by grace--that is the principle of the Christian life. Indeed, the Lord Jesus is your Life Principle. "Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

WALK BY GRACE - Slowly and painfully you will learn to be dependent upon your heavenly Father. He has ordained and laid out His plan for your life, and as you grow spiritually you will be walking in the path He has chosen for you. "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

SERVE BY GRACE - You are going to learn that your service is also according to the principle of grace: regeneration by grace, growth by grace, service by grace.

Your Father has promised to provide you with all that you will need for whatever He calls you to do. There will be enough for you, and for others, also. "God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8).

GRACE WORKS! - The fact that the Christian life and service are by grace does not mean that you flop down and wait for Him to work apart from you.

The growing Christian is a very active individual; he becomes the willing instrument of God's blessed will. In his measure he can say, with Paul, "His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

"God works, not with what He finds, but with what He brings."

Acceptance with God

WHY DOWN? We need to pause here and consider just why the growing Christian is taken down into defeat and despair in order to be brought up into maturity and fruitfulness. The hard fact is that the growing believer's formative years are predominantly backward and downward, rather than forward and upward. There is far more of Romans Seven (defeat) than there is of Romans Eight (victory).

It must be understood why your head, heart, and hope extend far in advance of your Christian course, while your actual experience struggles along, years in arrears. Now is the time for you to discover why it is that there is so much more fear, failure, and frustration that love, joy, and peace during your early spiritual development.

The main reason for this is that your Father has allowed your old sinful nature to remain within, co-existent with your new righteous nature. It is by this means that God gives you the constant choice: to abide in your old nature and be Adam-like, or to abide in your new nature and become Christ-like.

THE WAY UP IS DOWN! - Your Father first teaches you about your old sinful self, before you are taught about your new righteous self. The greater part of your early training consists of learning to recognize your sinful Adamic nature for what it is, totally self-centered and at enmity with God!

Mercifully, the need fostered by this prolonged discovery provides the motivation and heart-hunger for knowing your new Source of life, the Lord Jesus. Your new nature is the direct opposite of the old; it loves God and His will.

The sin and bondage spawned by your old nature motivate you to depend upon the Lord Jesus, to love Him, and to know Him. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." "That I may know him" (John 17:3; Philippians 3:10).

FOUNDATIONAL FACTS - In order for you to come through the extended disclosure of your sin nature strong and sure, rather than baffled and beaten, you must know the solidity of your spiritual foundation.

When you become acutely aware of the sin within, and its evil manifestations in your daily walk and relationships, you may be tempted to wonder whether or not you are a Christian, after all. Hence you need to know the strength of the foundation upon which you are to live and grow.

ACCEPTANCE BY GRACE - The first aspect that we are to consider is that of acceptance--your acceptance with God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Like everything else in your Christian life, your acceptance by God is of grace. "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, through which he hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:5, 6).

Could anything be more complete and eternal? To the extent that the Father accepts His beloved Son, He accepts you in Him. You can forever thank Him that your acceptance does not depend upon what you are in yourself!

POSITION VS. CONDITION - If you judge God's attitude toward you according to your day-to-day condition, you are never going to be absolutely sure that He fully accepts you, if at all. When everything is going well and you are happy in the Lord you are likely to conclude, "I am pleasing to God, therefore He loves me and accepts me."

But when He has to take you down into failure, or through trial, or into the desert--as an important part of your spiritual development--then you are apt to feel, "I must be displeasing to God; He doesn't seem to love me or accept me any longer."

With God, position is everything when it comes to your acceptance in His Son, and He wants that to be everything in your estimation. Of course, God is concerned about your present state, and He expects you to be, also. But your acceptance is not based upon your condition.

SATAN SACKED - Your acceptance by God will often be denied by Satan.  He will accuse you concerning sin in your life.  He will insist that God cannot possibly accept anyone in your condition.  It is then that you can especially rest in the Lord Jesus, who is your full acceptance before God and your shield against the devil's dart of doubt. "For your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).

God has positioned you in Christ. As the Holy Spirit develops Christ's life within you, you will be increasingly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus, Satan and all his wiles notwithstanding. "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

TRI-ACCEPTANCE - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are working on your behalf in the oneness of the Godhead for their eternal purpose: "Let us make (this) man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26).

In the light of these fortifying truths, you need never heed Satan's lies! "If (since) God be for us, who can be against us?.... Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" (Romans 8:31, 33). Certainly not Satan!

"Not a hair of the child of God can fall without God's permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God's will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them. They will but work out for us our Father's own purposes of love."

Assurance of Salvation

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER - The second aspect of your spiritual foundation is the assurance of salvation. This is the "know-so" conviction that you are a Christian. "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).

To the extent that your assurance of salvation wavers, your Christian experience will be crippled. It is much the same in the realm of the human family. A child may hear a rumor that he was adopted, and may begin to doubt that his parents are his real father and mother.

He thereby loses his "assurance"; he is no longer sure of his position in the family. This can have a devastating effect upon a child. How strengthening and assuring it is when one is sure of his parentage!

It is similar in the Christian life. Your unshakable assurance as to spiritual parentage comes from the Word of God. Your new position is as sure and unchangeable as the eternal Scriptures upon which it is founded. Your actual condition fluctuates from time to time--there is both retrogression and progression. Hence your position is the only ground for assurance of your salvation.

FAMILY POSITION - Ever keep in mind the difference between position and condition. Let's say there is a certain boy whose dad's name is Carloni, and whose mom's maiden name was Valentino. When we know his parentage, we know that this boy is Italian by family position and nature.

Because of his position by birth, we know that when this boy grows up he is going to be Italian in his condition, in his characteristics. His condition will reflect his position. He is born into an unchangeable position, and his is growing in his changeable condition--but both are Italian.

Spiritual birth has to do with family position, and not with experiences. Your new birth may have a great effect upon your condition. You may be filled with love, joy, peace--that is the result of your position. These and other aspects of your condition will ebb and flow.

There will be growth all during your life, but your family position will never change one iota. And it is upon your position in Christ that your assurance of salvation is established.

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:20).

FOUNDATIONAL SHIFT - It is usually in this area of assurance that you make your first major mistake in your Christian life. After you enter your spiritual position by faith, there is a great change in your condition--at least there should be!  Many of the old sins and habits drop away, and you may become a joyous and outgoing Christian. Your life is flooded with that first love and enthusiasm.

As a babe in Christ you are keenly aware of this transformation. It is so perceptible and wonderful that you are very likely to shift your assurance from your position to your condition. You feel so saved, and you act so saved, that you may say to yourself, "I know that I am a Christian; look at me, listen to me!"

You are now assured of your salvation because you feel saved. But see what this leads to. One morning, comes the dawn. On this particular day upon awakening you realize that you don't look very saved, you don't sound very saved, and you no longer feel very saved. All day long everything goes wrong, and by nightfall you find yourself at the end of your assurance.

Your conclusion may well be that since your condition is so bad, you just may not be a Christian. At any rate, you make up your mind to regain your assurance. The next day you strive to look and to sound and to feel saved. In short, you begin to struggle in order to maintain your assurance.

But because you are now centering your faith upon yourself and your condition, there is nothing but failure compounded. Your positional relationship with God has not changed in the least, and never will--but your assurance of it has. It may be by this, or a similar experience, that God will teach you that your new Christian life, and your assurance of that life, have their source and foundation in your position. It is all of grace!

"Who (God) hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 1:9).

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT - Another factor concerning your assurance of salvation is "the witness of the Spirit." "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16).

So many have the tendency to hanker for assurance in the realm of feelings. "Some anxious soul says, 'If I had the witness of the Spirit I should be happy and at rest; but, alas! I have not that witness.' My friend, you are looking in the wrong place for the Spirit's witness. You must not look within.

"The witness of the Spirit of Truth is not an inward feeling of consciousness of pardon; it is a witness recorded in the imperishable words of Holy Scripture. The witness of the Spirit is not a vague uncertainty or inward consciousness; it is a written testimony that lies plain and clear on the pages of Scripture.

"What is the witness? It is this: 'Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more' (Hebrews 8:12). Every believer is entitled to know that the question of his sins is divinely and eternally settled."--C.A. Coates

When the Holy Spirit, the Author of the Bible, speaks to your heart, He does it by means of that Word. As you study the Scriptures concerning your position in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Christ gives you a deep assurance within your spirit, beyond the realm of feelings, which cannot be altered or gainsaid.

"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.... And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.... 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 5:10-13).

Eternal Security

UNCONDITIONAL - The third and final aspect of your spiritual foundation to be considered here is eternal security. Just as your acceptance with God is by grace, so your eternal security is by grace.

You will inevitably encounter those who vehemently oppose the truth of eternal security. Those opponents insist upon some form of works in order to remain saved. But the God of all grace, the One who saves and secures, says, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5).

Standing upon your acceptance by God, and thereby resting in your assurance of salvation, there is very little that need be said about the obvious conclusion: you are unconditionally, eternally secure in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever" (Jude 24,25). It isn't that you don't fall in some measure daily in your condition, but that you cannot fall from your eternal position. One may fall on the deck, but never off the ship!

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD - The master key to your eternal security is the fact that your Father is the sovereign God of the universe. He has chosen you! He has made you His child! "According as he hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world...having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" (Ephesians 1:4,5).

You have already seen that your sovereign Father accepts you in His Son, and that He is working out His eternal purpose and will concerning you. "To the praise of the glory of his grace, through which he hath made us accepted in the Beloved.... In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Ephesians 1:6,11).

THE JUSTICE OF GOD - In a day of flagrant injustice, it will hearten you to know that your security is based squarely upon the justice of God. "To declare...his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (Romans 3:26; 1 Peter 3:18).

Payment God cannot twice demand; First at my bleeding Surety's hand, And then at mine.

THE LOVE OF GOD - Another factor in your eternal security is God's love for you. Your Father loves you as He loves His Son, because in Him you are also His son. Nothing can separate the Lord Jesus from His Father, and in Him nothing can separate you from your Father.

"What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord" (Romans 8:35,38,39).

THE POWER OF GOD - further, you are an heir of God. Your inheritance is kept for you while you are kept by the power of God.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5).

THE PROMISES OF GOD - As if this overwhelming evidence concerning your eternal security were not enough, God has given many promises that He will keep you. Let us look at just two of them in closing.

The Lord Jesus gives you a dual promise: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). You have come to him as your Savior, and he has not rejected you but rather received you in eternal love. Having come to Him and been saved by His marvelous grace, He has promised never to cast you out!

When Satan approaches you in the midst of your weakness and immaturity and charges that God has forsaken you, because of your sinful condition, it is then that your Father's promise shines upon you: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!"

Finally, consider this encouraging word by the late Dr. L.S. Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary: "Could it be possible that God would so love an individual as to give His Son to die for him, and still love him to the extent of following him with the pleadings and drawings of His grace until He has won that soul into His own family and created him anew by the impartation of His own divine nature, and then be careless as to what becomes of the one He has thus given His all to procure?" (Salvation, p. 119)

It is upon this sure foundation of acceptance, assurance, and eternal security--amid the exigencies and ecstasies of the Christian life--that you will "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).

DOCTRINE OF SALVATION (Phase 1)

December 7, 1985

1. Preliminary considerations (Jd.3):
1. Mankind stands in need of salvation due to Adam's fall (Rom.5:12-21).
2. Adam's original sin is imputed to his progeny, resulting in spiritual death to all (Rom.3:23; Gal.3:22).
3. While man is born physically alive, he is born spiritually dead, enslaved to the indwelling sinful trend of Adam/old sin nature (STA/OSN; Eph.2:1-3; Rom.3:9; 5:17).
4. This leads to personal sins which form a barrier between man and God's perfect righteousness (+R; Col.2:13,14).
5. Man is completely incapable of redeeming himself (Ps.49:7-9; 146:3; 1Pet.1:18,19).
6. Therefore, God initiated His plan to do for man what man could not do for himself (Act.2:23; Eph.2:8,9).
7. God's attribute of Love explains why He provided a grace solution to man's fallen and sinful condition (Jn.3:16; Rom.5:8; Eph.2:4; 1Jn.3:1; 4:10).
8. In order to redeem the fallen race, God sent into the world a Savior to be a substitute and sacrifice for sin (1Tim.1:15; 1Jn.4:9,10).
9. This perfect man, being actual flesh and blood, had to be without sin and had to be willing to die (Gal.4:4; 1Jn.3:5).
10. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to die in our place so that we could be redeemed from the curse of the Law (the Law, which is God's +R contained in commandments, demands perfection and no one can keep it; hence it is a curse; Gal.3:13).
11. Only Jesus Christ could keep the Law and be so qualified to bear the judgment for our sins in His own body on the Cross (Mt.5:17; 2Cor.5:21; 1Jn.3:5; 1Pet.2:24).
12. This He accomplished some 1,960 years ago, providing a once-for-all-time sacrifice for sins (1Tim.2:6; Heb.9:28).
13. The message of salvation is the gospel, which means "good news" (Rom.1:16; Eph.1;13).
1. Christ died for our sins (1Cor.15:3).
2. Those who believe in Him possess forgiveness and eternal life (Act.2:37-39; 15:7; cp. 10:38; Eph.1:7; 2Tim.1:10).
3. He was raised from the dead, ensuring the believer's victory over the grave via resurrection (1Thess.4:14).
14. Eternal salvation is by grace, i.e., a free gift of God (Rom.3:24; 6:23).
15. Salvation is from God and not of human derivation (1Chr.16:35; Ps.3:8; 24:5; 62:2,5,6; 67:2; 146:3; Isa.12:2,3; 43:11; Ti.3:5; Heb.5:9; Rev.19:1).
16. The Cross is the place where our so great salvation was made possible (Jn.12:32,33; 1Cor.1:18; Col.1:20; 1Pet.2:24).
2. The role of the Godhead in salvation.
1. God the Father sent His Son into the world to be the Savior, thus fulfilling the eternal decree to do so (Jn.5:23,24,30,36,38, plus 22X; Gal.4:4, et al.).
2. God the Son became flesh, and the resultant hypostatic union existed in the incarnation under humiliation, culminating in the execution of the eternal decree to die for sins (Act.2:23; Phil.2:6-8).
3. God the Holy Spirit convicts men of their need, regenerates those who believe, and seals (keeps saved) those who are born again (Jn.16:8-11; 3:5; Eph.1:13,14). He reveals the Son to men (Jn.16:14,15).
3. Various doctrines of salvation briefly explained.
1. Propitiation views the effect of Christ's work on the Cross on the righteousness of God: namely, that God has been propitiated (satisfied) with respect to man's sins (man's sins are no longer a barrier to eternal relationship to God; Rom.3:25a; 1Jn.2:1,2; 4:10).
2. Redemption views mankind as slaves to the STA/OSN, analogous to a slave market, and Christ the free man purchasing their freedom through His blood (Jn.3:36; Rom.6:17,18,22; 8:2; Gal.4:5; 5:1; Col.1:14; Ti.2:14; Heb.9:12,15).
3. Reconciliation sees man's sins as producing hostility between himself and God, and then God removing the hostility through Christ. Man is required to believe to effect the reconciliation (Rom.5:1,10,11; Col.1:21,22; 2Cor.5:18,19).
4. Justification sees man in need of God's perfect Righteousness to be qualified to live in heaven as God's sons forever. Imputation is the corollary doctrine which describes the mechanics of justification (Rom.3:26,28; 4:3,5,9-11; 5:1a; Gal.2:16).
5. Regeneration is the work of God the Holy Spirit toward the one who believes, constituting the individual a son of God through a new birth, and imputing eternal life to the believer (Jn.3; 1Jn.5:1,4).
6. Adoption is God accepting us as His sons and joint-heirs with Christ who formerly were not His children (Gal.4:5; Eph.1:5; Rom.8:15).
7. Unlimited atonement declares that Christ died for all men, including those who reject Him as Savior (1Jn.2:2).
8. Calling views God as extending the invitation to be saved to all, even those who refuse to come (Mt.22:14; Rom.8:30; Gal.1:6; 1Tim.6:12).
9. Election is the process whereby God accepts as His own those He already knew would accept the call to salvation (Mt.22:14; Eph.1:4).
10. Foreknowledge is God's Omniscience, through which He knew from eternity past all those who would believe (Rom.8:29).
11. Predestination means that God foreknew those who would believe, and these He predestined to be in the image of His Son. He did not cause them to believe and exclude others (Rom.8:29,30; Eph.1:5,11; 1Pet1:1,2).
4. Man's part in his salvation is to simply believe that God the Father sent God the Son to be the Savior (Jn.6:29).
1. The mechanics of salvation is to believe in God the Son (Gen.15:6; Isa.28:16; Jn.1:7,12; 3:15-18,36; 20:31; Act.16:31; Rom.3:22; 4:3; 10:9; 1Cor.1:21; Gal.3:26; 1Jn.3:23; 5:13, et al.).
2. When repentance is used in a salvation context, it refers only to the change in one's thinking that occurs when a person rejects their previous ideas for the truth (Mk.1:15).
3. Abraham is the pattern for all who believe for salvation (Rom.4:3,11,12).
4. Those under the Law (like David) were saved by faith (Rom.4:6-8).
5. Salvation is not by works (Jn.1:13).
1. Salvation is not by any system of law or works, including the perfect system of righteousness given by God, the Mosaic Law (Rom.3:20; Gal.2:16; 3:11; Eph.2:8,9; Ti.3:5).
2. Salvation is not through ritual, including the Lord's Table or water baptism (Rom.4:10-14; 1Cor.1:17; 1Pet.3:21; Heb.10:1-4).
3. If there were a system of works that could produce God's perfect righteousness in man, salvation would be by works, nullifying the need for the Cross (Gal.3:21).
4. If salvation were by works, man could boast; but salvation by grace negates boasting (Rom.3:27-30).
5. Finally, man cannot add anything to faith in Christ. This would be another gospel (Gal.1:6,7).
6. Salvation is eternal at the point of faith in Christ and cannot be forfeited under any circumstances whatsoever; we call this eternal security (God can deny rewards in heaven, but not eternal life).
1. As seen in the use of the adjective "eternal", describing our salvation (Jn.3:36; 4:14; 5:24; 10:28; 1Tim.1:16; 1Jn3:15; 5:11, et al.).
2. As seen in the "bread of life" and "water of life" metaphors (Jn.4:13,14; 6:32-35, 47-58).
3. As seen in the Good Shepherd metaphor (Jn.10:28,29).
4. As seen in the new birth analogy to physical birth (Jn.3:3-6; 1Pet.1:23).
5. As seen in direct statements like Rom.8:35-39 and 1Pet.1:5.
6. As seen in the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit (Eph.1:13; 4:30).
7. Applications of the doctrine to believers.
1. Confidence with respect to one's salvation is based on:
1. Practicing righteousness and keeping the royal imperatives (1Jn.2:3,5,29).
2. Loving the brethren (1Jn.3:10,14).
3. Learning Bible Doctrine (1Jn.2:27; 3:24).
2. The responsibility to bear witness is for all believers regardless of niche or gift (Isa.52:7; Ti.2:10).
3. The challenge of one's salvation is to lay hold of those things that accompany our salvation adjustment to the justice of God (SAJG) through growth (Heb.6:9; 1Pet.2:2).
4. The promise associated with our salvation is eternal life in a resurrection body (Jn.5:20-29; 11:24-27; Rom.8:23).
8. Who can be saved?
1. Christ, the Savior of all men, died for all men so that all can be saved (Jn.3:17; 4:42; Rom.10:13; 1Tim.4:10; Ti.2:11; 1Jn.2:2).
2. It is God's desire that all be saved (1Tim.2:4).
3. However, the vast majority of mankind will not be saved due to negative volition (Mt.7:13,14).
4. None will perish who would otherwise believe if given an opportunity (Jn.17:2).
5. Those who populate heaven constitute a great multitude (Heb.2:10; 12:23; 1Cor.10:33).
9. The consequences of failing to believe in Christ.
1. The unbeliever renders himself unworthy of salvation (Act.13:46).
2. He is already under judgment (Jn.3:18,36; cp. Rom.8:1).
3. He is guilty of the unpardonable sin (Mt.12:31; Mk.3:28,29; Lk.12:10).
4. He will die in his sins (Jn.8:24).
5. He will enter into eternal torment at physical death and experience the second death (Mt.18:8; 25:41,46; 2Thess.1:9; Jd.7).
6. All unbelievers will be raised in the last resurrection, judged, and cast into the Lake of Fire (Jn.5:29; Rev.20:11-15).
10. The word salvation means deliverance. Other uses of this word, other than Phase One deliverance, must be recognized in Scripture.
1. Temporal deliverance (Ps.18:48; 37:39; 38:22; Dan.6:27; 1Cor.10:13; 1Tim.1:20; 2Tim.4:17).
2. Deliverance from loss at the Bema Seat (Phil.2:12; 1Tim.4:16).
3. The Rapture, which is the deliverance of the body (Rom.13:11; 1Thess.5:9).
11. No one can have a relationship with God apart from Jesus Christ, His Son (Mt.10:40; Jn.5:23; 8:19; 13:20; 15:21; 16:3; 17:3).

Isa.55:1 "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost." Rev.21:6,7 "And He said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.'"


THE TERMS OF SALVATION

LEWIS SPERRY CHAFER

Used by permission. "The Terms of Salvation" originally appeared as the last segment of a series entitled "The Saving Work of the Triune God," published in Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 107 (Oct.-Dec. 1950): 389-416. Dr. Chafer (1871-1952) was the co-founder, first president, and professor of theology at Dallas Theological Seminary from 1924 until his death.

Outside the doctrines related to the Person and work of Christ, there is no truth more far-reaching in its implications and no fact more to be defended than that salvation in all its limitless magnitude is secured, so far as human responsibility is concerned, by believing on Christ as Savior. To this one requirement no other obligation may be added without violence to the Scriptures and total disruption of the essential doctrine of salvation by grace alone. Only ignorance or reprehensible inattention to the structure of a right Soteriology will attempt to intrude some form of human works with its supposed merit into that which, if done at all, must, by the very nature of the case, be wrought by God alone and on the principle of sovereign grace. But few, indeed, seem ever to comprehend the doctrine of sovereign grace, and it is charitable, at least, to revert to this fact as the explanation of the all-but-universal disposition to confuse the vital issues involved. It is the purpose of this article to demonstrate that the eternal glories which are wrought in sovereign grace are conditioned, on the human side, by faith alone. The practical bearing of this truth must of necessity make drastic claims upon the preacher and become a qualifying influence in the soul-winning methods which are employed. The student would do well to bring his message and his methods into complete agreement with the workings of divine grace, rather than to attempt to conform this unalterable truth to human ideals.

Salvation which is by faith begins with those mighty transformations which together constitute a Christian what he is; it guarantees the safe-keeping of the Christian and brings him home to heaven conformed to the image of Christ. The preacher or soul-winner who is able to trace through these limitless realities and to preserve them from being made to depend to any degree upon human responsibility other than saving faith in Christ, merits the high title of "a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine" (1 Tim 4:6). A moment's attention to the transforming divine undertakings which enter into salvation of the lost will bring one to the realization of the truth that every feature involved presents a task which is superhuman, and, therefore, if to be accomplished at all, must be wrought by God alone. Such a discovery will prepare the mind for the reception of the truth, that the only relation man can sustain to this great undertaking is to depend utterly upon God to do it. That is the simplicity of faith. However, since moral issues are involved which have been divinely solved by Christ in His death, He has there too become the only Savior, and to save faith must be directed toward Him. "Whosoever believeth in him" shall not perish, but have everlasting life. But even when the supernatural character of salvation is recognized, it is possible to encumber the human responsibility with various complications, thus to render the whole grace undertaking ineffectual to a large degree. These assertions lead naturally to a detailed consideration of the more common features of human responsibility which are too often erroneously added to the one requirement of faith or belief

I. Repent and Believe

Since repentance conceived of as a separate act—is almost universally added to believing as a requirement on the human side for salvation, a consideration of the Biblical meaning of repentance is essential. This consideration may be traced as follows: (1) the meaning of the word, (2) the relation of repentance to believing, (3) the relation of repentance to covenant people, (4) the absence of the demand for repentance from salvation Scriptures, and (5) the significance of repentance in specific passages.

1. The Meaning of the Word

The word metanoia is in every instance translated repentance. The word means a change of mind. The common practice of reading into this word the thought of sorrow and heart-anguish is responsible for much confusion in the field of Soteriology. There is no reason why sorrow should not accompany repentance or lead on to repentance, but the sorrow, whatever it may be, is not repentance. In 2 Cor 7:10, it is said that "godly sorrow worketh repentance," that is, it leads on to repentance; but the sorrow is not to be mistaken for the change of mind which it may serve to produce. The son cited by Christ as reported in Matt 21:28-29 who first said "I will not go," and afterward repented and went, is a true example of the precise meaning of the word. The New Testament call to repentance is not an urge to self-condemnation, but is a call to a change of mind which promotes a change in the course being pursued. This definition of the word as it is used in the New Testament is fundamental. Little or no progress can be made in a right induction of the Word of God on this theme, unless the true and accurate meaning of the word is discovered and defended throughout.

2. The Relation of Repentance to Believing

Too often, when it is asserted—as it is here—that repentance is not to be added to belief as a separate requirement for salvation, it is assumed that by so much the claim has been set up that repentance is not necessary to salvation. Therefore, it is as dogmatically stated as language can declare, that repentance is essential to salvation and that none could be saved apart from repentance, but it is included in believing and could not be separated from it. The discussion is restricted at this point to the problem which the salvation of unregenerate persons develops; and it is safe to say that few errors have caused so much hindrance to the salvation of the lost than the practice of demanding of them an anguish of soul before faith in Christ can be exercised. Since such emotions cannot be produced at will, the way of salvation has thus been made impossible for all who do not experience the required anguish. This error results in another serious misdirection of the unsaved, namely, one in which they are encouraged to look inward at themselves and not away to Christ as Savior. Salvation is made to be conditioned on feelings and not on faith. Likewise, people are led by the intensity of anguish which preceded or accompanied it. It is in this manner that sorrow of heart becomes a most subtle form of meritorious work and to that extent a contradiction of grace.

Underlying all this supposition that tears and anguish are necessary is the most serious notion that God is not propitious, but that He must be softened to pity by penitent grief. The Bible declares that God is propitious because of Christ's death for the very sin which causes human sorrow. There is no occasion to melt or temper the heart of God. His attitude toward sin and the sinner is a matter of revelation. To imply, as preachers have done so generally, that God must be mollified and lenified by human agony is a desperate form of unbelief. The unsaved have a gospel of good news to believe, which certainly is not the mere notion that God must be coaxed into a saving attitude of mind; it is that Christ has died and grace is extended from One who is propitious to the point of infinity. The human heart is prone to imagine that there is some form of atonement for sin through being sorry for it. Whatever may be the place of sorrow for sin in the restoration of a Christian who has transgressed, it cannot be determined with too much emphasis that for the unsaved—Jew or Gentile—there is no occasion to propitiate God or to provide any form of satisfaction by misery or distress of soul. With glaring inconsistency, those who have preached that the unsaved must experience mental suffering before they can be saved, have completely failed to inform their hearers about how such required torture may be secured. It should be restated that, since genuine grief of mind cannot be produced at will and since many natures are void of depression of spirit, to demand that a self-produced affliction of mind shall precede salvation by faith becomes a form of fatalism and is responsible for having driven uncounted multitudes to despair. However, it is true that, from the Arminian point of view, no greater heresy could be advanced than this contention that the supposed merit of human suffering because of personal sins should be excluded from the terms on which a soul may be saved.

As before stated, repentance, which is a change of mind, is included in believing. No individual can turn to Christ from some other confidence without a change of mind, and that, it should be noted, is all the repentance a spiritually dead individual can ever effect. That change of mind is the work of the Spirit (Eph 2:8). It will be considered, too, by those who are amenable to the Word of God, that the essential preparation of heart which the Holy Spirit accomplishes in the unsaved to prepare them for an intelligent and voluntary acceptance of Christ as Savior—as defined in John 16:8-11—is not a sorrow for sin. The unsaved who come under this divine influence are illuminated—given a clear understanding—concerning but one sin, namely that "they believe not on me.

To believe on Christ is one act, regardless of the manifold results which it secures. It is not turning from something to something; but rather turning to something from something. If this terminology seems a mere play on words, it will be discovered, by more careful investigation, that this is a vital distinction. To turn from evil may easily be a complete act in itself, since the action can be terminated at that point. To turn to Christ is a solitary act, also, and the joining of these two separate acts—repentance and faith—are required for salvation. On the other hand, turning to Christ from all other confidences is one act, and in that one act repentance, which is a change of mind, is included. The Apostle stresses this distinction in accurate terms when he says to the Thessalonians, "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thess 1:9). This text provides no comfort for those who contend that people must first, in real contrition, turn from idols—which might terminate at that point—and afterwards, as a second and separate act, turn to God. The text recognizes but one act—"Ye turned to God from idols"—and that is an act of faith alone.

Those who stress repentance as a second requirement along with believing, inadvertently disclose that, in their conception, the problem of personal sin is all that enters into salvation. The sin nature must also be dealt with; yet that is not a legitimate subject of repentance. Salvation contemplates many vast issues and the adjustment of the issue of personal sin, though included, is but a small portion of the whole. Acts 26:18, sometimes drafted in proof of the idea that the unsaved must do various things in order to be saved, rather enumerates various things which are wrought for him in the saving power of God.

3. The Relation of Repentance to Covenant People

The term covenant people is broad in its application. It includes Israel, who are under Jehovah's unalterable covenants and yet are to be objects of another, new covenant (Jer 31:31-34), and the Church, composed of all believers of the present age, who are also now the objects of that new covenant made in Christ's blood (Matt 26:28; I Cor 11:25). A covenant implies relationship because it secures a right relation to God in matters belonging within the bounds of the covenant. A covenant that is unconditional, as the above-named covenants are, is not affected by any human elements, nor is it changeable even by God Himself.

However, the fact of a covenant and the experience of its blessings are two different things. It is possible to be under the provisions of an unconditional covenant and to fail for the time being to enjoy its blessings because of sin. When sin has cast a limitation upon the enjoyment of a covenant and the covenant, being unchangeable, still abides, the issue becomes, not the remaking of the covenant, but the one issue of the sin which mars the relationship. It therefore follows that, for the covenant people, there is a need of a divine dealing with the specific sin and a separate and unrelated repentance respecting it. This repentance is expressed by confession to God. Having confessed his sin, David did not pray for his salvation to be restored; he rather prayed for the restoration of "the joy" of his salvation (Ps 51:12). In like manner, it is joy and fellowship which confession restores for the believer (1 John 1:3-9). When Christ came offering Himself to Israel as their Messiah and announcing their kingdom as at hand, He, with John and the apostles, called on that people to repent in preparation for the proffered kingdom. There was no appeal concerning salvation or the formation of covenants; it was restoration of the people by a change of mind which would lead them to forsake their sins (Matt 10:6ff.) The application of these appeals made to covenant Jews concerning their adjustments within their covenants to individual unregenerate Gentiles, who are "strangers from the covenants" (Eph 2:12), is a serious error indeed. In like manner, a Christian may repent as a separate act (2 Cor 7:8-10). The conclusion of the matter is that, while covenant people are appointed to national or personal adjustment to God by repentance as a separate act, there is no basis either in reason or revelation for the demand to be made that an unregenerate person in this age must add a covenant person's repentance to faith in order to be saved.

4. The Absence of the Demand for Repentance from Salvation Scriptures

Upwards of 115 New Testament passages condition salvation on believing, and fully 35 passages condition salvation on faith, which latter word in this use of it is an exact synonym of the former. These portions of Scripture, totaling about 150 in all, include practically all that the New Testament declares on the matter of the human responsibility in salvation; yet each one of these texts omits any reference to repentance as a separate act. This fact, easily verified, cannot but bear enormous weight with any candid mind. In like manner, the Gospel of John, which is written to present Christ as the object of faith unto eternal life, does not once employ the word repentance. Similarly, the Epistle to the Romans, which is the complete analysis of all that enters into the whole plan of salvation by grace, does not use the word repentance in connection with the saving of a soul, except in 2:4 where repentance is equivalent to salvation itself. When the Apostle Paul and his companion, Silas, made reply to the jailer concerning what he should do to be saved, they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). This reply, it is evident, fails to recognize the necessity of repentance in addition to believing. From this overwhelming mass of irrefutable evidence, it is clear that the New Testament does not impose repentance upon the unsaved as a condition of salvation. The Gospel of John with its direct words from the lips of Christ, the Epistle to the Romans with its exhaustive treatment of the theme in question, the Apostle Paul, and the whole array of 150 New Testament passages which are the total of the divine instruction, are incomplete and misleading if repentance must be accorded a place separate from, and independent of, believing. No thoughtful person would attempt to defend such a notion against such odds, and those who have thus undertaken doubtless have done so without weighing the evidence or considering the untenable position which they assume.

5. The Significance of Repentance in Specific Passages

When entering upon this phase of the study, it is first necessary to eliminate all portions of the New Testament which introduce the word repentance in its relation to covenant people. There are, likewise, passages which employ the word repentance as a synonym of believing (cf. Acts 17:30; Rom 2:4; 2 Tim 2:25; 2 Pet 3:9). Also, there are passages which refer to a change of mind (Acts 8:22; 11:18; Heb 6:1, 6; 12:17; Rev 9:20, etc.). Yet, again, consideration must be accorded three passages related to Israel which are often misapplied (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31). There are references to John's baptism, which was unto repentance, that are outside the Synoptics (Acts 13:24; 19:4).

Four passages deserve more extended consideration, namely:

Luke 24:47 "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

It will be seen that repentance is not in itself equivalent to believing or faith, though, being included in believing, is used here as a synonym of the word believe. Likewise, it is to be recognized that remission of sins" is not all that is proffered in salvation, though the phrase may serve that purpose in this instance. Above all, the passage does not require human obligations with respect to salvation. Repentance, which here represents believing, leads to remission of sin.

Acts 11:18 "When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

Again repentance, which is included in believing, serves as a synonym for the word belief The Gentiles, as always, attain to spiritual life by faith, the all-important and essential change of mind. It is also true that the passage does not prescribe two things which are necessary to salvation (ef. vs. 17).

Acts 20:21 "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

First, though unrelated to the course of this argument, it is important to note that the Apostle here places Jews on the same level with Gentiles, and both are objects of divine grace. The Jew with his incomparable background or the Gentile with his heathen ignorance, each, must undergo a change of mind respecting God. Until they are aware of God's gracious purpose, there can be no reception of the idea of saving faith. It is quite possible to recognize God's purpose, as many do, and not receive Christ as Savior. In other words, repentance toward God could not itself constitute, in this case, the equivalent of "faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," though it may prepare for that faith. The introduction of the two Persons of the Godhead is significant, and that Christ is the sole object of faith is also most vital. Those who would insist that there are here two human obligations unto salvation are reminded again of the 150 portions in which such a twofold requirement is omitted.

Acts 26:20 "But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance."

Again, both Jews and Gentiles are addressed as on the same footing before God. Two obligations are named here, in order that spiritual results may be secured—those to "repent and turn to God. "The passage would sustain the Arminian view if repentance were, as they assert, a sorrow for sin; but if the word is given its correct meaning, namely, a change of mind, there is no difficulty. The call is for a change of mind which turns to God. This passage, also, has its equivalent in I Thess 1:9, "Ye turned to God from idols."

Conclusion

In the foregoing, an attempt has been made to demonstrate that the Biblical doctrine of repentance offers no objection to the truth that salvation is by grace through faith apart from every suggestion of human works of merit. It is asserted that repentance, which is a change of mind, enters of necessity into the very act of believing on Christ, since one cannot turn to Christ from other objects of confidence without that change of mind. Upwards of 150 texts—including all of the greatest gospel invitations—limit the human responsibility in salvation to believing or to faith. To this simple requirement nothing could be added if the glories of grace are to be preserved.

II. Believe and Confess Christ

The ambition to secure apparent results and the sincere desire to make decisions for Christ very definite have prompted preachers in their general appeals to insist upon a public confession of Christ on the part of those who would be saved. To all practical purposes and in the majority of instances these confessions are, in the minds of the unsaved, coupled with saving faith and seem, as presented, to be of equal importance with that faith. This demand upon the unsaved is justified, if justified at all, from two texts of Scripture which should have consideration:

1. Scripture Bearing on Confession of Christ

Matt 10:32 "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven."

This verse, which occurs in the midst of Christ's kingdom teachings and as a part of His instruction to His disciples whom He is sending forth with a restricted message to Israel (cf. vv 5-7) and which was to be accompanied by stupendous miracles (cf. v 8) such as were never committed to preachers in the present age, applies, primarily, to these disciples themselves in respect to their faithful delivery of this kingdom proclamation, and could be extended in its appeal only to Israelites to whom they were sent. The carelessness which assumes that this Scripture presents a condition of salvation for a Jew or Gentile in the present age is deplorable indeed.

Rom 10:9-10 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

This message, falling as it does within the specific teachings which belong primarily to the way of salvation by grace, is worthy of more consideration. The force of the positive statement in v 9, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved," is explained in v 10: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." In the latter verse the true meaning and use of the word "confess" is suggested. Of this word in this same passage the late Dr. Arthur T. Pierson wrote:

That word means to speak out of a like nature to one another. I believe and receive the love of God. In receiving His love I receive His life, in receiving His life I receive His nature, and His nature in me naturally expresses itself according to His will. That is confession. Alexander Maclaren has said: "Men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel, because the candle would either go out or burn the bushel.', You must have vent for life, light, and love, or how can they abide? And a confession of Christ Jesus as Lord is the answer of the new life of God received. In receiving love, you are born of God, and, being born of God, you cry "Abba, Father," which is but the Aramaic word for "Papa"—syllables which can be pronounced before there are any teeth, because they are made with the gums and lips—the first word of a new-born soul, born of God, knowing God, and out of a like nature with God speaking in the language of a child.

The two activities named in these verses are each expanded with respect to their meaning in the immediate context which follows. Of believing it is said: "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek" (vv 11-12). Salvation is promised to both Jew and Greek (though in his case a Gentile) on the one condition that they believe. Such, indeed, shall not be ashamed. Of confession it is said:

"For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (vv 12-13). It cannot go unobserved that the confession of vv 9 and 10 is declared to be a calling on the name of the Lord. In other words, this confession is that unavoidable acknowledgment to God on the part of the one who is exercising saving faith, that he accepts Christ as his Savior. As Abraham amened the promise of God—not a mere unresponsive believing (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:3), so the trusting soul responds to the promise which God proffers of salvation through Christ.

2. Two Conclusive Reasons

There are two convincing reasons why the Scripture under consideration does not present two human responsibilities in relation to salvation by grace.

a. To claim that a public confession of Christ as Savior is required in addition to believing in Christ, is to contend that 150 passages in which believing alone appears are incomplete and to that extent misleading. A certain type of mind, however, seems able to construct all its confidence on an erroneous interpretation of one passage and to be uninfluenced by the overwhelming body of Scripture which contradicts that interpretation.

b. To require a public confession of Christ as a prerequisite to salvation by grace is to discredit the salvation of an innumerable company who have been saved under circumstances which precluded any public action.

Conclusion

Confession of Christ is a Christian's privilege and duty and may be undertaken at the moment one is saved, but it is not a condition of salvation by grace, else works of merit intrude where only the work of God reigns.

III. Believe and Be Baptized

In any discussion respecting the word baptizo it must be recognized that this term is used in the New Testament to represent two different things—a real baptism by the Spirit of God by which the believer is joined in union to Christ and is henceforth in Christ, and a ritual baptism with water John distinguished these when he said, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt 3:11). Though this word sustains a primary and secondary meaning and these are closely related ideas, the fact that the same identical word is used for both real and ritual baptism suggests an affiliation between the two ideas with which this word is associated. In fact, Eph 4:5 declares that there is but one baptism. The contemplation of such facts respecting this word is essential to a right understanding of the theme under discussion. The question naturally arises when it is asserted that one must believe and be baptized, whether a real or a ritual baptism is in view. There are two passages demanding attention:

Mark 16:15-16

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

A strange inattention to the evidence which serves as proof that reference is made in this text to real baptism by the Spirit, has characterized the interpretation of the passage. This evidence should at least be weighed for all that it is. Should it prove upon examination that reference is made to real baptism by the Spirit, which baptism is essential to salvation, the difficulty of a supposed regenerating baptism is immediately dismissed. Dr. James W. Dale, in his Christic and Patristic Baptism (pp. 392-94), has discussed this vital issue in an extended argument. He writes:

All, so far as I am aware, who interpret the language of the Evangelist as indicating a ritual baptism, do so without having examined the question—"May not this be the real baptism by the Holy Spirit and not ritual baptism with water?" This vital issue has been assumed without investigation, and determined against the real baptism of the Scriptures, without a hearing. Such assumption is neither grounded in necessity, nor in the warrant of Scripture; whether regarded in its general teaching or in that of this particular passage. That there is no necessity for limiting the baptism of this passage to a rite is obvious, because the Scriptures furnish us with a real baptism by the Spirit, as well as with its symbol ritual baptism, from which to choose. There is no scriptural warrant in the general teaching of the Bible for identifying a rite with salvation; nor can such warrant be assumed in this particular passage (which does identify baptism and salvation), because there is no evidence on the face of the passage to show; that the baptism is ritual with water, rather than real by the Spirit. These points must be universally admitted: 1. The passage does not declare a ritual baptism by express statement; 2. It contains no statement which involves a ritual baptism as a necessary inference; 3. The Scriptures present a real and a ritual baptism, by the one or the other of which to meet the exigencies of any elliptically stated baptism; 4. That baptism which meets, in its scripturally defined nature and power; the requirements of any particular passage, must be the baptism designed by such passage. We reject ritual baptism from all direct connection with this passage, in general, because, the passage treats of salvation and its conditions (belief and baptism). All out of the Papal church admit, that ritual baptism has not the same breadth with belief as a condition of salvation, and are, therefore, compelled to introduce exceptions for which no provision is made in the terms of this passage. We accept the real baptism by the Holy Spirit as the sole baptism directly contemplated by this passage, in general, because, it meets in the most absolute and unlimited manner as a condition of salvation the obvious requirement on the face of the passage, having the same breadth with belief, and universally present in every case of salvation. We accept this view in particular: Because it makes the use of "baptized" harmonious with the associate terms, "believeth" and "saved." The use of these terms, as well as "baptized," is elliptical. "Believe" has in the New Testament a double usage; the one limited to the action of the intellect, as "the devils believe and tremble"; the other embraces and controls the affections of the heart, as "with the heart we believe unto righteousness." It is the higher form of "belief" that is universally recognized as belonging to this passage. "Saved," also, is used in the New Testament, with a double application; as of the body, "all hope that we should be saved was taken away"; and of the soul, "He shall save His people from their sins." Again it is this higher salvation that is accepted without question. So, "baptized" is used in a lower and a higher meaning; applied in the one case to the body, as "I baptize you with water"; and in the other case applied to the soul, as "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." By what just reasoning, now, can "believeth," and "saved," be taken in the highest sense, and "baptized," in the same sentence and in the same construction, be brought down to the lowest? We object to such diversity of interpretation as unnatural and without any just support. The only tenable supply of the ellipsis must be, "He that believeth" (with the heart upon Christ), "and is baptized" (by the Holy Ghost into Christ) "shall be saved" (by the redemption of Christ). The construction allows and the case requires, that a relation of dependence and unity subsist between "believeth" and "baptized." There is evidently some vinculum binding these words and the ideas which they represent, together. MIDDLETON (Greek article, in loco) says: "In the Complutens. edit. the second participle has the article, which would materially alter the sense. It would imply, that he who believeth, as well as he who is baptized, shall be saved; whereas the reading of the MSS. insists on the fulfilment of both conditions in every individual." This is true; but it is not all the truth. This faith and this baptism must not only be disjoined by being assigned to different persons, but they must not be disjoined by being assigned to different spheres, the one spiritual and the other physical; and being conjoined, in like spiritual nature, and meeting together in the same person, the whole truth requires, that they shall be recognized not as two distinct things existing harmoniously together; but as bearing to each other the intimate and essential relation of cause and effect, that is to say, the baptism is a consequence proceeding from the belief.

Believing has the influence over the soul, through the power of God in accordance with His promise in the gospel, of bringing the one who believes into the estate of salvation with all its values which are received from Christ. The new relation to Christ of being in Him is wrought by the Holy Spirit's baptism, and it could not be absent in the case of any true salvation. On the other hand, all who have been saved have been saved quite apart from ritual baptism. The form of speech which this text presents is common in the Bible, namely, that of passing from the main subject to one of the features belonging to that subject, as, cc Thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak" (Luke 1:20). The word dumb is amplified by the words not able to speak. In the text in question, the word believeth is amplified by the words and is baptized, and with reference to real baptism which is an integral part of salvation.

Acts 2:38

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

A very general impression obtains among informed students of the Sacred Text that the translation of this passage is injured by the rendering of two prepositions epi and eis by the words in and for. That epi is better translated upon, and eis is better rendered into would hardly be contested. To this may be added the demand of some worthy scholars that the word believing should be supplied, which would give the following rendering: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you, [believing] upon the name of Jesus Christ into the remission of sins." By so much the passage harmonizes with all other Scripture, which, from the interpreter's standpoint, is imperative (2 Pet 1:20); and the remission of sins—here equivalent to personal salvation—is made to depend not upon repentance or baptism.

Dr. J. W Dale is convinced that it is real baptism by the Spirit which is referred to here and also in verse 41. He proposes that the same arguments which he advanced to prove that Mark 16:15-16 refers to real baptism by the Spirit serve as valid evidence in Acts 2:38,41. He feels a particular relief that there is no need, according to this interpretation, of defending the idea that 3,000 people were baptized by ritual baptism in what could have been but slightly more than half a day and as a surprise necessity for which preparations could not have been made either by the candidates or administrators, whereas, Dr. Dale contends, to reckon this baptism to have been real and that which unavoidably does enter into the salvation of every soul and does not follow after as a mere testimony, is to encounter no insuperable difficulty whatever. Most of all, he points out, by such an interpretation this passage is rescued from the misinterpretation which exalts ritual baptism to the point of being all-but-essential to salvation.

It is significant that the Apostle Peter follows this exhortation contained in Acts 2:38 with a promise respecting the reception of the Holy Spirit. In the disproportionate emphasis which has been placed on ritual baptism—doubtless stimulated by disagreement on its mode—the great undertaking of the Spirit in real baptism which conditions the believer's standing before God and engenders the true motive for Christian character and service, has been slighted to the point that many apparently are unaware of its existence. Such a situation is not without precedent. At Ephesus the Apostle Paul found certain men who were resting their confidence in "John's baptism," who confessed "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost" (Acts 19:1-3). In other words, the student would do well to note that the truth regarding the baptism with the Holy Spirit is itself more important than the Christian public, led by sectarian teachers, supposes it to be.

Conclusion

The above examination of two passages, on which the idea of baptismal regeneration is made to rest, has sought to demonstrate that ritual baptism, however administered, is not a condition which is to be added to believing as a necessary step in salvation.

IV. Believe and Surrender to God

On account of the subtlety due to its pious character; no confusing intrusion into the doctrine that salvation is conditioned alone upon believing is more effective than the added demand that the unsaved must dedicate themselves to do God's will in their daily life, as well as to believe upon Christ. The desirability of a dedication to God on the part of every believer is obvious, and is so stressed in the Sacred Text that many sincere people who are inattentive to doctrine are easily led to suppose that this same dedication, which is voluntary in the case of the believer, is imperative in the case of the unsaved. This aspect of the general theme may be approached under three considerations of it: (1) the incapacity of the unsaved, (2) what is involved, and (3) the preacher's responsibility.

1. The Incapacity of the Unsaved

The Arminian notion that through the reception of a so-called common grace anyone is competent to accept Christ as Savior if he will, is a mild assumption compared with the idea that the unregenerate person, with no common or uncommon grace proffered, is able to dedicate his life to God. Much has been written on previous pages regarding the overwhelming testimony of the Bible to the utter inability and spiritual death of the unsaved. They are shut up to the one message that Christ is their Savior; and they cannot accept Him, the Word of God declares, unless illuminated to that end by the Holy Spirit. Saving faith is not a possession of all men but is imparted specifically to those who do believe (Eph 2:8). As all this is true, it follows that to impose a need to surrender the life to God as an added condition of salvation is most unreasonable. God's call to the unsaved is never said to be unto the Lordship of Christ; it is unto His saving grace. With any reception of the divine nature through the regenerating work of the Spirit, a new understanding and a new capacity to respond to the authority of Christ are gained. Those attending upon such issues in practical ways are aware that a self-dedication taxes the limit of ability even for the most devout believer The error of imposing Christ's Lordship upon the unsaved is disastrous even though they are not able intelligently to resent it or to remind the preacher of the fact that he, in calling upon them to dedicate their lives, is demanding of them what they have no ability to produce. A destructive heresy was formerly abroad under the name The Oxford Movement, which specializes in this blasting error; except that the promoters of the Movement omit altogether the idea of believing on Christ for salvation and promote exclusively the obligation of surrender to God. They substitute consecration for conversion, faithfulness for faith, and beauty of daily life for believing unto eternal life. As is easily seen, the plan of this Movement is to ignore the need of Christ's death as the ground of regeneration and forgiveness, and to promote the wretched heresy that it matters nothing what one believes respecting the Saviorhood of Christ if only the daily life is dedicated to God's service. A pseudo self-dedication to God is a rare bit of religion with which the unsaved may conjure. The tragedy is that out of such a delusion those who embrace it are likely never to be delivered by a true faith in Christ as Savior. No more complete example could be found today of "the blind leading the blind" than what this Movement presents.

2. What Is Involved

The most subtle, self-satisfying form of works of merit is, after all, found to be an engaging feature in this practice of applying to unbelievers the Lordship of Christ. What more could God expect than that the creatures of His hand should by supposed surrender be attempting to be obedient to Him? In such idealism the darkened mind of the unsaved, no doubt, sees dimly some possible advantage in submitting their lives to the guidance of a Supreme Being—of whom they really know nothing. Such notions are only human adjustments to God and resemble in no way the terms of divine adjustment, which first condemns man and rejects all his supposed merit, and then offers a perfect and eternal salvation to the helpless sinner on no other terms than that he believe on Christ as his Savior.

If the real issue in self-dedication to God is stated in its legitimate though extreme form, the possibility of martyrdom is first in evidence. One who is faithful unto God is enjoined to be faithful unto death (Rev 2:10). Such, indeed, is a glorious challenge to the devout believer and perhaps many have accepted the challenge and suffered a martyr's death; but would any zealous advocate of the idea that the Lordship of Christ must be applied to the unsaved as a condition of salvation, dare to propose to the unsaved that they must not only believe on Christ but be willing to die a martyr's death? The very proposal of such a question serves only to demonstrate the unwisdom and disregard for revealed truth which this error exhibits.

The unregenerate person, because of his condition in spiritual death, has no ability to desire the things of God (1 Cor 2:14), or to anticipate what his outlook on life will be after he is saved. It is therefore an error of the first magnitude to divert that feeble ability of the unsaved to exercise a God-given faith for salvation into the unknown and complex spheres of self-dedication, which dedication is the Christian's greatest problem.

3. The Preacher's Responsibility

It is the preacher's responsibility, not only to preserve his message to the unsaved from being distorted by issues other than that of simple faith in Christ, but, when speaking to Christians in the presence of the unsaved regarding issues of Christian character, conduct, and service, to declare plainly that the truth presented has no application to those who are unsaved. Such a reminder, oft repeated, will not only preserve the unregenerate individuals who are present from the deadly supposition that God is seeking to improve their manner of life rather than to accomplish the salvation of their souls, but will also create in their minds the so important impression that they are, in the sight of God, hopelessly condemned apart from Christ as Savior. God alone can deal with a situation wherein a large percentage of the members of the church are unsaved, and yet are habitually addressed as though they were saved and on no other basis than that they belong to the church. It is surprising, indeed, that any unsaved person ever gains any right impression respecting his actual relation to God, when he is allowed to believe that he is included in all the appeals which are made to Christians regarding their daily life. If the importance of attention to this wide difference between the saved and the unsaved is not appreciated and respected by the preacher, the fault is nearly unpardonable since the results may easily hinder the salvation of many souls. Next to sound doctrine itself, no more important obligation rests on the preacher than that of preaching the Lordship of Christ to Christians exclusively, and the Saviorhood of Christ to those who are unsaved.

Conclusion

A suggestion born of this theme is that in all gospel preaching every reference to the life to be lived beyond regeneration should be avoided as far as possible. To attend to this is not a deception nor a withholding of the truth from those to whom it applies. It is the simple adjustment to the limitation and actual condition of those unto whom the gospel is addressed. To such among the unsaved who, because of the weakness and inability which they observe in themselves, are fearful lest they would not "hold out" as Christians, it is desirable to remind them that, in the new relation to Christ which will exist after they receive Him, new abilities will be possessed by which they can live to the glory of God. Such proffered assurance is far removed from the practice of introducing obligations which are exclusively Christian in character and as something to which they must consent in order to be saved. Multitudes of unsaved people have been diverted from the one question of their acceptance of Christ as Savior to other questions regarding amusements and unchristian ways of living. As an unsaved person has no motive or spiritual light by which to face such problems, that person can only be bewildered by these issues. His problem is not one of giving up what in his unsaved state seems normal to him; it is a problem of receiving the Savior with all His salvation.

V. Believe and Confess Sin or Make Restitution

But a moment need be devoted to this error which prevails among certain groups of zealous people. The Scripture employed by advocates of this error is that which applies only to Christians. The passage reads:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). This declaration, as has been seen, is addressed to believers who have sinned and presents the ground on which such may be restored to fellowship with God. The notion that restitution must be made before one can be saved is based on the God-dishonoring theory that salvation is only for good people, and that the sinner must divest himself of that which is evil before he can be saved. In other words, God is not propitious respecting sin; He is propitious toward those only who have prepared themselves for His presence and fellowship. Over against this, the truth is ignored that the unregenerate person cannot improve his fallen condition and, if he could, he would be bringing merit to God where merit is wholly excluded to the end that grace may abound and be magnified through all eternity. The preacher must ever be on his guard to discourage the tendency of the natural man to move along lines of reformation rather than regeneration. All who are serious regarding their lost estate are best helped by that body of truth which declares how God, through Christ, must save and will save from all sin; that He must and will deal with the very nature which sins; and that He must and will rescue men from their estate under sin. There are various ways by which the natural man proposes to be saved and yet retain his dignity and supposed worthiness, and one of these is the contention that sin must be confessed and restitution made as a human requirement in salvation. It is God who justifies the ungodly (Rom 4:5); it is while men are enemies, sinners, and without strength" that Christ died for them (Rom 5:6-10); and all their unworthiness is accounted for by Christ in His death. There is a duty belonging only to Christians—to set things right after they are saved—and there should be no neglect of that responsibility. It therefore remains true that those who are saved are saved on the one condition of believing upon Christ.

VI. Believe and Implore God to Save

None of the errors being considered seems more reasonable than this, and none strikes a more deadly blow at the foundation of divine grace. The error includes the claim that the sinner must "seek the Lord," or that he must plead with God to be merciful. These two conceptions, though nearly identical, should be considered separately.

1. "Seek Ye the Lord"

This phrase, quoted from Isa 55:6, represents Jehovah's invitation to His covenant people, Israel, who have wandered from their place of rightful blessings under His covenants, to return to Him. It was appointed to that people to "seek the LORD while he may be found" and to "call upon him while he is near"; but the gospel of the grace of God in the present age declares to Jew and Gentile alike that "there is none that seeketh after God" (Rom 3:11), and that "the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). This declaration that in this age there are none who seek the LORD, accords with the testimony of the New Testament relative to the incapacity of those who are lost to turn to God. Apart from the new birth, the unsaved "cannot see the kingdom of God" john 3:3), their minds are blinded by Satan (2 Cor 4:3-4), and they can exercise faith toward God only as they are enabled to do so by the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:8). In the light of these revelations, there is little ground for the hope that the unsaved will "seek the LORD;" and, what is far more essential to the right understanding of the way of salvation by grace, the unsaved are not asked to seek the LORD. If this is true, the unsaved should never be placed in the position of those who must discover God or prevail upon Him to be gracious.

2. Believe and Pray

The question which arises at this point is one of whether God is propitious. If He is propitious, there remains no occasion for the unsaved to try to find Him, to wait until He is on "the giving hand," or to implore Him to save. He is propitious to an infinite degree and the problem confronting the mind of man is one of adjustment to that revelation. The transforming effect of the truth that God is propitious penetrates every phase of Soteriology. His flood tide of blessing—all that is impelled by infinite love—awaits, not the imploring, prevailing appeal that might move one to be gracious, but rather it awaits the simple willingness on the part of men to receive what He has already provided and is free to bestow in and through His Son, the Savior.

Attention has been called in an earlier discussion to the fact that salvation begins in the heart of God and is precisely what His infinite love demands and ordains. Its whole scope and extent is the reflection of that immeasurable love. It embraces all that infinity can produce. The sinner's plight is serious indeed and the benefits he receives in saving grace cannot be estimated; but all this together is secondary compared with the satisfaction which God's great love demands. As before stated, but two obstacles could hinder the satisfaction of divine love—the sin of the creature He loves and the will of that creature. As the Creator of all things, even these obstacles take their place in the divine decree which ordained all things that exist. Accordingly He has, as the only One who could do it, met by the sacrifice of His Son the obstacle which sin imposed, and He, too, secures the glad cooperation of the human will. The effect of the death of His Son is to render God righteously free to act for those whom He loves, and that freedom for love to act is propitiation. Therefore, it must be again asserted that God is propitious. It is infinite love that now invited the sinner to eternal glories, and it is infinite love that awaits the sinner's response to that invitation.

With this marvelous revelation in view, there is no place left for the idea that the sinner must "seek the LORD," or that the sinner must plead with God to be merciful and kind. No burden rests on the unsaved to persuade God to be good; the challenge of the gospel is for the unsaved to believe that God is good. Since these great truths are revealed only in the Word of God, the unsaved are enjoined to believe God's Word, and the Scriptures hold a large share in the divine undertaking of bringing men to salvation john 3:5). It is common, however, for some who, with great passion of soul, attempt to preach the gospel, so to fail in the apprehension of the divine propitiation that they imply that salvation is secured by entreating God, and by so much the value of Christ's mediation in behalf of the sinner is nullified.

The example of the prayer of the publican is usually cited as the best of reasons for urging the unsaved to plead with God for His mercy and salvation. What, it is asked, could be more appropriate than that the unsaved should pray as did the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13)? The appeal on the part of the publican is assumed to be the norm for all sinners, though, in reality, it contradicts the very truth of the gospel of divine grace. The incident must be examined carefully. It is essential to note that the publican—a Jew of the Old Testament order and praying in the temple according to the requirements of a Jew in the temple—did not use the word merciful—which word is properly associated with the idea of kindness, bigheartedness, leniency, and generosity. According to the original text, which in the Authorized Version is too freely translated, the publican said, "God be propitiated to me the sinner." The word hilaskomai, which means "to make propitiation," appears in the text.

There is a wide difference between the word merciful with all its implications and the word propitiation. By the use of the word merciful the impression is conveyed that the publican pleaded with God to be magnanimous. By the use of the word propitiation—if comprehended at all—the impression is conveyed that the publican asked God to cover his sins in such a way as to dispose of them; yet, at the same time, to do this in a way that would protect His own holiness from complicity with his sins. If the publican did as Jews were accustomed to do in his day when they went into the temple to pray, he left a sacrifice at the altar. It is probable that he could see the smoke of that sacrifice ascending as he prayed. What he prayed was strictly proper for a Jew of his time to pray under those circumstances. However; his prayer would be most unfitting on this side of the cross of Christ. With reference to the word merciful, it was not in the publican's prayer nor would it be a proper word for a penitent to use, on either side of the cross. God cannot be merciful to sin in the sense that He treats it lightly, whether it be in one age or another. But with reference to the word propitiation and its implications, that word was justified in the age before Christ died and when sin was covered by sacrifices which the sinner provided. It was suitable for the publican, having provided his own sacrifice, to ask that his sacrifice be accepted and himself absolved. Yet, on this side of the cross when Christ has died and secured propitiation and it is established perfectly forever, nothing could be more an outraging of that priceless truth upon which the gospel rests than to implore God to be propitious. Such prayers may be enjoined through ignorance, but the wrong is immeasurable. When this prayer is made, even for God to be propitious, there is a direct assumption expressed that God is not propitious, and to that extent the petitioner is asking God to do something more effective than the thing He has done in giving His Son as a sacrifice for sin.

A moment's consideration would disclose the immeasurable wrong that is committed when God is asked to be propitious, when, at the infinite cost of the death of His Son, He is propitious. The truth that God is propitious constitutes the very heart of the gospel of divine grace, and the one who does not recognize this and sees no impropriety in the use of the publican's prayer today has yet to comprehend what is the first principle in the plan of salvation through Christ. Men are not saved by asking God to be good, or merciful, or propitious; they are saved when they believe God has been good and merciful enough to provide a propitiating Savior. The sinner is saved, not because he prevails on God to withhold from him the blow of judgment that is due him for his sin, but because he believes that that has fallen on his Substitute. If it is thought that all this is but a mere theological distinction and that after all God is love and the sinner will be treated in love, consideration should be given to the fact that it was for the very purpose of providing a righteous ground for salvation of sinners that the Son of God became incarnate, that He died, and that He arose from the dead. To imply that all this—and there is no salvation apart from it—is only a theological speculation, is to reject the whole plan of salvation through a Savior and to assume to stand before God, who is consuming fire, without shelter, shield, or surety.

VII. Conclusion

In consummating this section on the human terms which condition the salvation of a soul, it may be restated:

a. Every feature of man's salvation from the divine election in past ages and on through successive steps—the sacrifice of the Savior, the enlightenment by the Spirit, the immediate saving work of God in its manifold achievements, the keeping work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the delivering work of the Spirit, the empowering work of the Spirit, and the final perfecting and presenting in glory—is all a work so supernatural that God alone can effect it, and, therefore, the only relation which man can sustain to it is to trust God to do it. Such a dependence is not only reasonable, but is all and only that which God requires on the human side for the eternal salvation of a soul. This human trust acknowledges that, according to revelation, God can deal righteously with sinners on the ground of the death of His Son for them. The sinner thus trusts in the Saviorhood of Christ.

b. It has been asserted that the primary divine purpose in saving a soul is the satisfying of infinite divine love for that soul and the exercise of the attribute of sovereign grace. Should the slightest human work of merit be allowed to intrude into this great divine undertaking, the purpose of manifesting divine grace would be shattered. It therefore follows that, of necessity, men are saved by believing apart from every form of human worthiness.

c. In the preceding pages it is also pointed out that the New Testament declares directly and without complication in at least 150 passages that men are saved upon the sole principle of faith; and, in this connection, it has been demonstrated that it is not a matter of believing and repenting, of believing and confessing Christ, of believing and being baptized, of believing and surrender to God, of believing and confessing sin, or of believing and pleading with God for salvation, but it is believing alone. Such belief is apart from works (Rom 4:5); it is a committal of one's self to Christ (2 Tim 1:12); and it is a definite turning—an act of the will—to God from every other confidence (1 Thess 1:9). "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

The Biblical Distinction Between Eternal Salvation And Eternal Rewards:
A Key to Proper Exegesis

Bob Wilkin
Executive Director
Grace Evangelical Society
Irving, TX

I. Introduction

A number of books have been written recently which attempt to harmonize two NT themes: judgment according to one’s works and justification by faith.

Sometimes the explanation given is hard to follow. Some authors seem to feel that justification is by faith apart from works and yet final salvation is by faith plus works.

For example, Judith Gundry Volf writes,

Paul’s certainty that God will faithfully accomplish God’s purpose to save Christians completely and finally does not mean, however, that he views this process as "automatic." The present is characterized by the eschatological tension. Both the reality of salvation and the power of evil await the completion of their salvation while enduring testing and afflictions in the present. Subjection to antagonistic forces at work in such tribulation can even threaten their salvation. Moreover, they have yet to appear before the judgment seat at which occasion their final destiny will be made manifest. Will they be accused and condemned after all?

It is in the very context of these dangers that Paul affirms the certainty of Christians’ final salvation… Christians are more than conquerors in tribulations and will come through the final judgment unscathed (Rom 8:28-39).¹

This is confusing. How is it possible that Paul "affirms the certainty of Christians’ final salvation" and yet as the same time asserts that Christians await a final judgment in which they may be "condemned after all"?

The problem here is a failure to recognize a distinction between eternal salvation and eternal rewards. This is a widespread today. Blomberg, who feels that there is no distinction between eternal rewards and eternal salvation, writes concerning five texts which deal with the possibility of receiving crowns (1 Cor 9:25; 1 Thess 2:19; 2 Tim 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Pet 5:4):

A majority of commentators agree in each of these five instances that our texts are not at all talking about degrees of rewards in heaven but simply about eternal life. ²

It is my contention that we will often miss the meaning of the text if we fail to recognize the distinction between eternal salvation and eternal rewards.

I have selected two sample passages to examine. In each case I will present two interpretations: one which understands the passage as dealing with eternal salvation and one which understands it as dealing with eternal rewards.

II. Two Test Passages

A. First Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

1. The eternal salvation view

Blomberg argues that Paul was here speaking of eternal salvation and that he was uncertain that he possessed it. He writes:

In 1 Cor 9:25, Paul compares our perseverance to the athlete striving after an Olympic crown. But unlike a race on a track in which there can be only one winner, "we" [Christians] all should compete for "the crown that will last forever." This "crown" is the same as the "prize" of vv. 24, 27, which one fails to receive if one is "disqualified" (adokimos)… Eternal life and death are at stake here, not gradations of reward.

A too simplistic understanding of "eternal security" has probably led many Christians to doubt that Paul could have seriously considered not "making it to heaven." But true Reformed doctrine recognizes that saints are those who persevere. No Biblical text offers assurance of salvation for people who flagrantly repudiate Christ without subsequent repentance. Anthony Hoekema captures the sense of 1 Cor 9:26-27 quite well: "Only as he thus continued to discipline himself did Paul feel justified in claiming his spiritual security in Christ. He did not dare to claim this blessing while being careless and indolent in his daily battle against sin. And neither may we."³

2. The eternal rewards view

There is a major difference theologically and practically between the eternal salvation view and the eternal rewards view. According to the latter view, Paul was sure he had eternal life, but he was not sure he would be approved by Christ at His Judgment Seat and receive the rewards that go along with that approval.

Hodges writes concerning this passage:

Paul compares the Christian life to a racecourse in which winning is not automatic for any runner, not even for himself…

Again, there is no thought here of the loss of eternal life. Such a loss is impossible, as our Lord Himself made clear. But the apostle can indeed envision the possibility that even he—a preacher to others—might lose the reward that God grants to successful runners…

No Christian life can be pronounced a success until it ends successfully. The race is not over simply because we have been running it for years."⁴

B. Philippians 3:11, 14

If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection of the dead… I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

1. The eternal salvation view

"The Problem of Doubt in Philippians 3:11" is the title of a thesis written at Dallas Seminary adopting this perspective.⁵ The author, William R. Johnson, says: "One can never be absolutely sure that he will persevere to the end until the end."⁶

He goes on: "There can be relative assurance of such perseverance. Paul expresses this in Philippians 3:11. He had seen what Christ had done in his life so far."⁷

Since he is writing from the Reformed perspective, Johnson then assures the reader that "the loss of assurance as treated in this thesis could never indicate more than that an individual never possessed salvation to begin with."⁸

Johnson concludes, "Paul seeks sanctification if perhaps he may attain to the resurrection of the dead. As long as his attitude is always on the goal and the striving required to reach it, he may have relative assurance of reaching it. Should he ever stop running, resting on his present achievements, or should he begin a lifestyle of habitual sin, such would be an indication that he might not truly know God."⁹

2.The eternal rewards view

A thesis entitled "The Out-Resurrection of Philippians 3:11" adopted the rewards interpretation.¹⁰ In it the author, Phil R. Williams, says:

Exanastasis occurs in three other places [in the NT], in addition to Philippians 3:11. In each of these three instances…it [speaks] of a special, select, limited resurrection. It is used metaphorically with this same significance in Philippians 3:11. It is the same as the "better resurrection" of Hebrews 11:35, and is resurrection to greater glory and higher reward, won on the basis of faithfulness to Christ, and likeness to Him.¹¹

There is a variation on this interpretation. I have argued elsewhere (The Grace Evangelical Society News, August 1991) that v 11 does not deal directly with eternal salvation or eternal rewards. Paul was hoping to attain to a quality of life here and now which manifested resurrection power. He was seeking to live now in the same manner in which he would live forever (cf. Heb 12:14).

According to this view the theme of eternal rewards is still present. In v 14 Paul indicates that he is striving to know Christ in his experience and to attain now to a resurrection type of life, so that he might receive the prize (brabeion, cf. 1 Cor 9:25) of the upward call of God in Christ. That prize, as in 1 Cor 9:24-25, is the approval of Christ and the rewards that attend such approval.

C. Which View Does the Text Support?

There are several strong reasons to conclude that the rewards view is the best understanding of the texts in our test passages.

First, the salvation view demands the conclusion that Paul was unsure of his own salvation. That is, however, impossible apart from clear evidence of a complete mental breakdown on Paul’s part. There is, of course, no evidence in the NT or in extrabiblical literature of Paul having experienced a major breakdown.

Paul came to faith in Christ by a dramatic encounter with the risen Lord (Acts 9:3-6; 22:6-16). He made it clear that he received the Gospel from Jesus Himself (Gal 1:12). He repeatedly asserted in his epistles that he believed in Christ and that he had eternal life and could never lose it. His certainty of his standing with God was based on his faith in the promises of God :

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Rom 8:38-39

"knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law"
Gal 2:16

"you all are partakers with me of grace"
Phil 1:7

"giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light"
Col 1:12

"I know whom I have believed"
2 Tim 1:12

"To Titus, a true son in our common faith"
Titus 1:4

"according to His mercy He saved us"
Titus 3:5

See also Rom 4:23-25; 1 Cor 3:9-15; 2 Cor 5:1-21; Gal 1:12; 2:4-10; 1 Thess 2:4; 2 Tim 2:11-13.

In addition, in his letters to churches Paul called himself an apostle of Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Eph 1:1; etc.). Surely he knew that there were no unsaved apostles (cf. 1 Cor 12:1-31, esp. v 28)! Equally certain is that he wouldn’t have called himself an apostle if he had any doubt about whether he was saved or not!

Any view that requires the conclusion that Paul was uncertain of his salvation should be rejected on that basis alone.

Second, the term brabeion, used in the NT only in our two test passages, most naturally fits with the eternal rewards interpretation. Brabeion means a prize. This prize can be compared with those won by competitors in an athletic contest (cf. 1 Cor 9:24-25). Competitors in a race who lost were not executed. They were not excluded from the kingdom in which they lived. They did not forfeit their citizenship. They did, however, miss out on the prize and the special privileges attendant to it.

Third, to suggest that "striving [is] required to reach [the goal of eternal salvation]," as the salvation view suggests, requires that Paul completely contradict his doctrine of justification by faith apart from works. Surely Paul would not contradict the Gospel which he preached. He was adamant to maintain its purity (cf. Gal 1:6-9; 5:12).

Fourth, the salvation view appeals to theology before exegesis. Blomberg admits that his understanding of 1 Cor 9:24-27 is influenced by dogmatic concerns: "True Reformed doctrine recognizes that saints are those who persevere." This leads him to the following syllogism:

All Christians persevere.
Paul wasn’t sure he would persevere.
Conclusion: Paul wasn’t sure he was a Christian.

The syllogism appears airtight. However, it is flawed because one of the premises is wrong. All Christians do not persevere. In fact, 1 Cor 9:24-27 suggests that perseverance is neither automatic nor guaranteed.

We thus turn now to consider the various problems which result from misinterpreting passages which deal with eternal rewards.

III. Difficulties Which Arise from
Failing to Recognize this Distinction

A. Distorting the Gospel Message

If passages like 1 Cor 9:24-27 and Phil 3:11-14 refer to obtaining eternal salvation, then believers must work to obtain it:

"Run in such a way that you may obtain it."
1 Cor 9:24

"I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
1 Cor 9:27

"I press toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
Phil 3:14

However, we know from many NT passages that this is not the case. Eternal salvation is absolutely free to the recipient (John 4:10; Rom 3:24; 4: 3-8; Eph 2:9; Rev 22:17). Jesus paid the whole price. We pay nothing. We are saved the moment we believe Jesus’ promise to give eternal life to all who trust Him for it (John 5:24; 6:47).

Unlike eternal salvation, eternal rewards are not free. They are earned by work done. Paul said in 2 Cor 5:10 that "all [believers] must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Similarly, the Lord Jesus said the He will "reward each according to his works" (Matt 16:27, emphasis added). Eternal salvation is not "according to what [one] has done" and is not "according to [one’s] works."

In some places eternal salvation and eternal rewards are contrasted in the same paragraph. For example, in 1 Cor 3:14-15 Paul said: "If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." The unproductive believer is saved even though his works are burned up. However, if a believer’s works endure the test of fire, then in addition he will be rewarded. Compare also Rom 14:8-12; 2 Tim 2:11-13; Rev 22:14-17.

Since eternal rewards are not the same as eternal salvation, there is no contradiction of the Gospel in passages conditioning eternal rewards on perseverance in good works.

To understand passages like 1 Cor 9:24-27 and Phil 3:11-14 as being Gospel passages is to distort the Gospel by suggesting that ongoing good works are a requirement for obtaining eternal salvation.

B. Undermining Assurance

Obviously if the apostle Paul could not be certain he had eternal life, neither can anyone.

Reformed exegetes do not view this as a problem. In fact, they view ongoing doubt about one’s standing with God as an important impetus to perseverance. For example, MacArthur writes, "Periodic doubts about one’s salvation are not necessarily wrong. Such doubts must be confronted and dealt with honestly and biblically" (The Gospel According to Jesus, revised edition, p. 214). Shortly thereafter he writes:

It has become quite popular to teach professing Christians that they can enjoy assurance of salvation no matter what their lives are like. After all, some argue, if salvation is a gift to people who simply believe the gospel facts, what does practical living have to do with assurance? That teaching is nothing but practical antinomianism. It encourages people living in hypocrisy, disobedience, and sin by offering them a false assurance (p. 215).

Since assurance in the Reformed view is conditioned upon ongoing perseverance, assurance is something less than certainty.

As long as one looks to his works to discern whether he is saved or not, he will never be sure he has eternal life. If one fails to recognize the distinction between eternal salvation and eternal rewards, certainty is lost.

C. Improperly Motivating Obedience

As mentioned above, doubts about one’s salvation are viewed as an important motivation for those who do not distinguish between eternal salvation and eternal rewards. However, such a motivation is seriously flawed.

Believers should not fear going to hell. Jesus guarantees to give eternal life to all who trust Him for it (John 6:47). Paul proclaimed that there is nothing which can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Rom 8:38-39). It is impossible to trust Christ for eternal life and at the same time fear going to hell. The two are incompatible.

This is not to suggest that one who doubts his salvation is necessarily unsaved. It is sadly possible for genuine believers to lose their assurance (though not their salvation).

To be motivated to obey God out of fear of hell is to return to Rome. Such a motivation is not pleasing to God for He promises that those who believe in Christ will never be judged to determine their eternal destiny (John 5:24).

In addition to adopting an improper motive, those who miss the distinction between eternal salvation and eternal rewards jettison a proper motivation. Eternal rewards are held forth in Scripture as a powerful motivation for believers to obey God. Believers should set their hearts on laying up treasure in heaven (Matt 6:19-21) and on ruling with Christ (1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Tim 2:12; Rev 3:21). While eternal life is an absolutely free gift, eternal rewards are earned by work done. Only by remaining faithful and diligent can any believer earn the right to rule with Christ forever (2 Tim 2:12; Rev 3:21).

IV. A Grace Gospel Hermenuetic

If a given interpretation of a passage requires that eternal salvation is earned or preserved by works which the believer must do, then that interpretation should be rejected as impossible. The analogy of faith requires that we understand difficult texts in light of the simple ones. There are many simple texts which assert that eternal salvation is neither earned nor preserved by works which the believer does (cf. Rom 4:4-8; Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

If a passage clearly conditions something upon good works which a person must do, then the passage is either showing the impossibility of salvation by works (e.g., Romans 2), or is not dealing with the Gospel at all (e.g., the two sample passages).

John 6:28-29 appears to be an exception, but it isn’t. There the expression "good work" (singular) is used rhetorically to refer to believing the Gospel. The Jews thought they had to do good works (plural) to obtain everlasting life. Jesus said the work (singular) they needed to do was to believe Him. Jesus was not talking about good works in the Pauline sense. He was talking about obeying God’s command to believe in His Son (cf. Acts 5:32; 6:7; 1 Pet 2:7). Eternal salvation is conditioned upon faith, not upon good works.

Words like salvation (sozo, soteria), inheritance (kleronomeo, kleronomia), and even eternal life (aionion zoe) are not technical terms which always refer to eternal salvation from hell. On some occasions they refer to eternal rewards which believers can earn. See, for example, 1 Pet 1:5,9; Gal 5:19-21; 6:7-9.

Exegetes should be open to the possibility that a given text may be dealing with eternal rewards and not eternal salvation.

V. Theological Principles Which Grow Out of This Distinction

The following are a number of points which naturally follow if there is indeed a distinction between eternal salvation and eternal rewards:

• Believers can and sometimes do fall away.
• All will not have an equal experience in the kingdom. Some will have more abundant lives than others.
• Salvation is a gift, but rewards are earned.
• Salvation can’t be lost, but rewards can be.
• Assurance of salvation is absolute, but assurance of rewards is not absolute.
• There is no future judgment of believers to determine their eternal destiny. There is a future judgment of believers to determine the quality of their eternal experience.

VI. Conclusion

Two NT themes, justification by faith and judgment according to one’s works, can best be understood and harmonized by realizing that there is an author-intended distinction in the NT between eternal salvation and eternal rewards. The former is a free gift, is apart from works, and is received by faith alone. The latter is earned, is conditioned upon ongoing good works, and is received by faith plus works.

If we fail to recognize the distinction between passages which deal with eternal salvation versus those which deal with eternal rewards, we will misunderstand quite a large number of NT texts. In addition, a number of practical difficulties will result. The Gospel becomes garbled. Assurance of salvation is eliminated. And motivations for obedience are muddled.

First Corinthians 9:24-27 and Phil 3:11-14 show the importance of this study and strongly support the thesis of this article. The biblical distinction between eternal salvation and eternal rewards is a key to proper exegesis.

Endnotes

¹Judith Gundry Volf, Paul and Perseverance: Staying In and Falling Away (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990), 283.

²Craig Blomberg, "Degrees of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, June 1992, 163, emphasis added.

³"Degrees of Reward?" p. 163.

⁴Zane C. Hodges, Absolutely Free! A Biblical Reply to Lordship Salvation, 82-83.

⁵William Randall Johnson, "The Problem of Doubt in Philippians 3:11," Dallas Theological Seminary, 1979.

⁶Ibid., 49.

⁷Ibid., 49.

⁸Ibid., 50.

⁹Ibid., 51 (emphasis added).

¹⁰Philip R. Williams, "The Out-Resurrection of Philippians 3:11," Dallas Theological Seminary, 1955..

¹¹Ibid., 40.