By simple definition, to save means to rescue someone from something which is threatening or dangerous. So, what are believers saved from? What is our dangerous threat? Paul wrote that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18) and about “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). We have already spoken of the fact that God is holy and just, and that sin is rebellion against him.
Our salvation speaks of God reaching down and pulling us out of a rebellious life of sin and death, adopting us as children, and making us citizens of his kingdom. It is a work of God; not something we can do for ourselves. It is a divine work which is both accomplished and applied by God himself. Thus God speaks of placing enmity between the serpent and the woman, and it was God who sent his Son to save the world (John 3:16-17).
But, how are we saved? How was the work of salvation accomplished? God the Father sent his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for his people. Just as the Old Testament sacrifices acted as a substitute for the faithful people of God, so Jesus Christ acted on our behalf as a substitute before the Father. On the cross, all our sin was laid upon him, and he took the full brunt of God’s wrath for us. As Paul wrote, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is known as the great exchange. All our sin was given to Jesus Christ, and all his righteousness was given to us. So, by the giving of his righteousness to us, we become the children of God, and we are seen through Christ as clean and holy.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that those whom God “predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). This gives us a very simple order of salvation, known as the ordo salutis. Over the years, theologians and teachers have added other steps to this in an effort to explain just how God saves those whom he calls to himself. In one of its most detailed forms, the order includes foreknowledge, predestination, election, calling, regeneration, faith, conversion, repentance, justification, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification.
What is foreknowledge? This is the idea that, since before the foundation of the world, God has known and loved those whom he would call to himself. Following upon that is predestination, which is the idea that our final destination – in heaven as believers and children of God or in hell as unbelievers separated from God – is decided by God, not by us, before we were even born. And, this choice of whom God will save depends upon God’s own will; not upon anything we do, think, or believe. Despite what some would say, God does not “look down the corridors of time” and choose those whom he sees will believe of their own accord. Our fallen nature is evil, and we would never choose God of our own accord.
Those whom God has chosen are called by him to come into his kingdom and be adopted as his children. This call has both an external and an internal aspect. Externally, all men may be called by the message of the gospel as presented in the Word of God. Internally, men are called as the Holy Spirit creates in them a new heart which not only understands, but actually desires, the things of God. This is known as the effectual call, because, when men are so called by the Spirit, they will heed the call and come. It is often referred to as being irresistible, because it always achieves it desired result.
When one is called, the Holy Spirit creates a new heart (Deuteronomy 30:6 and Ezekiel 36:26-27). This rebirth is known as regeneration. It is the making of a new person by the work of the Holy Spirit – a person who desires to know and serve God forever. It must be remembered that regeneration is not the result of faith, for without the new heart faith is impossible. God first makes the person new; then he gives that person the gift of faith.
But, what is faith? At its root, faith is “trust.” To have faith is to trust God to act as he has said that he will. It is to believe in God and to believe God. Faith is to accept the fact that the Father sent his Son to die as an atoning sacrifice for sinners, and it is to trust that the accomplished work of redemption has been applied to one’s own heart. Faith is to know God and Jesus Christ, and to know that we will spend all eternity with God in glory.
We are told that our justification (our salvation) is by the grace of God through faith alone. We contribute nothing to our justification, for there is nothing within us that deserves to be saved. Our justification is a work of God, in which he declares us to be just before him, because of the accomplished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross.
And, finally, we must speak of perseverance and glorification. Jesus has said, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John10:29). When we have been justified in the eyes of God, we are saved from sin and death, and we can never return to that life. This is known as the perseverance of the saints. All who come to Christ will be saved, and he will keep them until the end. And, that end is a glorious end. We, as children of God will spend eternity with God in glory. That is our hope.
Essential #5:
Because of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, every human being is born a sinner. We are all in need of a Savior. God, the Father, sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to be an atoning sacrifice for his people. The work of salvation accomplished on the cross by Jesus is applied to the hearts of God’s people by the Holy Spirit. God’s salvation – a work which he alone accomplishes – rescues us from a life of sin, misery, and death. We are adopted as children of God, and we are made covenant citizens of his glorious kingdom.
