How Do We Receive Salvation
When I bought an engagement ring for my wife, it did not make us engaged. I still had to pop the question and she still had to receive my gift. In the same way Christ has done what is necessary for us to be saved, but that gift is not appropriated apart from faith. This is what the Bible teaches in Ephesians 2. We are dead in our trespasses and sin, and God makes us alive. When our eyes are opened to the beauty of the gospel and the accomplishment of Christ our only fitting response is to respond in repentance and belief.Repentance and belief are really two sides of the same coin. Repentance means that we are changing our mind about God and about ourselves. We are laying down our own foolish efforts to save ourselves. We are turning away from self-sufficiency. At the same time we are turning towards Christ. We trust that He alone is the one who can save us. We are entrusting ourselves to him.This is why the Bible says it is . Faith is simply that which links us to Christ. Its that which reaches out and grabs ahold of the work of Christ. And, as it has often been said, a weak faith is able to lay ahold of a strong Christ. The most important aspect of our repentance and faith is not its own veracity. The most important aspect of our repentance and faith is its object. When we place our faith and trust in Christ the Bible says we are saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, Joel 2:32 .
Compatibility Of Differing Theories
Some theologians maintain that “various biblical understandings of the atonement need not conflict”.Reformed theologian J. I. Packer, for example, although he maintains that “penal substitution is the mainstream, historic view of the church and the essential meaning of the Atonement… Yet with penal substitution at the center”, he also maintains that “Christus Victor and other Scriptural views of atonement can work together to present a fully orbed picture of Christ’s work”.J. Kenneth Grider, speaking from a governmental theory perspective, says that the governmental theory can incorporate within itself “numerous understandings promoted in the other major Atonement theories”, including ransom theory, elements of the “Abelardian ‘moral influence’ theory”, vicarious aspects of the atonement, etc.
Anglican theologian Oliver Chase Quick described differing theories as being of value, but also denied that any particular theory was fully true, saying, ‘if we start from the fundamental and cardinal thought of God’s act of love in Jesus Christ … I think we can reach a reconciling point of view, from which each type of theory is seen to make its essential contribution to the truth, although no one theory, no any number of theories, can be sufficient to express its fullness.’
Death And Sacrifice Point Toward A Savior
In the New Testament, Paul confirms what is written in Genesis 2:17 when he says that the wages of sin is death. One sin is enough to cause death!
Romans 6:23aFor the wages of sin is death
Since the wages of sin is death, God, in Genesis 3, shows that a life must be taken to cover the sin of Adam and Eve. Therefore, to make a temporary atonement , God killed these animals on behalf of Adam and Eve clothing them with the skins.
Genesis 3:21The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
The punishment demanded from an infinitely holy God, who cannot look upon sin, is an infinite punishment. Animals are not infinite, and so, they cannot ultimately take away the sin, but merely cover it. Mankind needed a perfect, infinitely holy sacrifice. Jesus Christ, who is the infinite and holy Son of God, stepped into history to take that punishment on Himself. We ultimately need a perfect sacrifice, and the perfectly obedient life of Christ was Gods plan for the ultimate atonement.
But after Adam and Eve sinned, people began making animal sacrifices to cover their sinsan animal life for sin. A few examples follow.
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What Is Salvation According To The Bible
As Christians, we are familiar with the term salvation, but what does it mean and how do we receive it according to the Bible?
Salvation, commonly referred to as being saved means deliverance or redemption from sin and its consequences. We are told in Romans 5:8 that God demonstrated His love for us through the death of His son, because of our sins. Ephesians 2:5 tells us even though we were dead because of our sins, gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by Gods grace that you have been saved. In order to receive salvation, we have to be born again. We commonly hear the terms, “born again” again and “saved” in Christian circles.They are two of the most popular phrases used by-present day Christians, but many cant pinpoint the definition when they are asked to. When you are saved, or born again, you experience a spiritual transformation, a total change of heart. To be born again is to be saved.
To better understand salvation through the act of being born again, turn to John 3:1-21. In this passage, Jesus Christ is talking to Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the ruling body of the Jews. During this exchange, Nicodemus came to Jesus with a number of questions.
Lesli White is an Editor for Beliefnet.com
Does It Mean Every Jew Who Ever Lived
In his book Post-missionary Messianic Judaism, American Messianic Jewish believer, Dr. Mark Kinzer, asks what we should make of the past 2,000 years of Jewish traditions. He concludes that Israels no to Yeshua is actually a hidden participation in the obedience of Israels Messiah. According to Kinzer, although Israel has rejected Yeshua, He continues to live among themthough in a hidden, obscure fashion. What Kinzer is really saying is that Jewish tradition is Gods wish for the Jewish people at this time: a divinely sanctioned religious tradition appointed for the purpose of preserving the Jewish people. This view is based on the idea that when some Jews answered Pilate All the people answered, His blood is on us and on our children! , God considered Jesus blood to covered them and their sins. While I have never met with Dr. Kinzer, I have no doubt that he dearly love his own Jewish people. The problem however is that he loves the the Jews so much, that his love for them is in competition with the gospel, and contradicts what Yeshua himself taught about salvation.Judaisms rejection of Jesus is based on Judaisms rejection of Moses, and the prophets. Dead traditions cannot give life nor change our heart for the better, only faith in Messiah can. The outcome of religious traditions that Ive encountered so far is mainly characterized by pride, legalism and self-justification nothing that can save you.
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Why Do I Need To Be Saved
So heres the deal God is a righteous judge, and he will judge the whole world on the last day through his Son, Jesus Christ . Every person who has ever walked this earth will stand before God one day, and we will be judged according our actions, by the words that Jesus spoke and taught .
God has given us his law . He has a standard that he expects us to live by, and we have all fallen short of this, and broken his law by our own choice and free will .
Moreover, our bodies are temporal and mortal, but our souls are eternal, and will live on forever after we die. Every soul that has ever existed will spend eternity in one of two places.
Those who have done evil will experience eternal punishment in the lake of fire and brimstone , and those whom have done good will experience eternal life with Jesus in heaven .
Furthermore, God wants to have a relationship with us, but our sin separates us from God. The definition of sin, according to James 4:17 is: So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. And the penalty for our sin is death .
Since God is holy, righteous, and just, he cannot simply excuse sin. If he is a just judge, he has to punish us for breaking the law. What judge would be just if they let everyone who did evil go free, without punishment?
Salvation By The Life Of Christ
What happens if we do not harden our hearts? We will go from light to light. We come to understand that judgment returns to righteousness, with the result that we are not quite so fearful of judging ourselves and agreeing with the light. This becomes easier and easier for us, because when we continue to walk in the light, we become more aware of how wretched we are according to the flesh. This produces a strong hatred for our self-life, which enables us to pass the test that Christ requires of those who want to be His disciples. The glory will increase, since sufferings in the flesh keep darkness and wickedness in subjection. We become more aware of the inheritance in the light. Brotherly fellowship increases and becomes more fervent. The blood cleanses away all sin, and our closeness and communion with the Father become greater than ever before. Our service in the Spirit becomes more valuable, and more and more people will hate us and cast out our name as evil.
Jesus was heard because of His godly fear. By walking in the light, we show our true godly fear, and we become increasingly assured that God hears our prayers. All these things are part of the salvation which comes through the life of Christ. This salvation can only begin to work after a death has taken place to redeem us from the sins we committed under the first covenant.
This article has been translated from Norwegian and was first published in BCCs periodical Skjulte Skatter in October 1920.
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The Free Gift Of Salvation: Belief In Christ
Jesus, being the perfect sacrifice, offers the free gift of salvation. God loves you so much that He sacrificed His own unblemished Son to suffer the wrath against sin and die on the Cross. He commands you to repent and trust in Him:
2 Corinthians 7:10For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted but the sorrow of the world produces death.9
The Bible is clear in several passages how to receive salvation. It doesnt mean you are perfect after you are saved, but it does mean that you are perfectly forgiven and saved from the penalty of sin by Gods grace.
Ephesians 2:89For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Romans 10:910That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Acts 16:3031He then brought them out and asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be savedyou and your household.
Salvation Is From The Lord
When one considers all the facts relating to salvation and the preparatory work of the Spirit before one can be saved, it becomes obvious that simply assenting to the fact of the gospel and believing mentally that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world does not result in salvation and is not really what can be called saving faith.
In the nature of faith, it is also important to realize that it must come from the whole man, that is, from his intellect, sensibility, and will. There has to be some mental understanding of what the gospel is in order to be saved, and the sinner coming to Christ should enter into the fact that it requires more than assentit requires an act of the whole person. This may involve not only the mind but the feelings, or sensibility, and, most of all, it involves the will, for faith is actually a step authorized by our will. The English word belief comes somewhat short of what is anticipated in the Bible, which is more accurately expressed as trust, or committing oneself to faith in Christ.
Accordingly, in Scripture faith in Christ is an act of the whole person. It involves the work of the Spirit in the conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment, and it involves Gods providing special enablement to one who is spiritually dead to believe in Christ. This is what the Bible defines as saving faith.
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What Does It Mean To Be Saved
The scenes are played out before us many times every year. A man is dramatically rescued from a swollen river by first responders a child is pulled from a burning apartment building by firefighters a woman is delivered from a would-be assailant by a brave bystander. Each scenario includes a situation of impending peril or destruction, a rescuer or deliverer who intervenes, and a second chance at life for the one saved.
Although the word is rarely used in the media, each scene is a picture of salvation. The Bible teaches that sin threatens us with broken relationships, spiritual death, and judgment. But God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has provided a way to rescue us from sins consequences. He offers us salvation so that we can have a second chance at life, an opportunity to experience a spiritual rebirth into a new and abundant life in the Spirit, and ultimately, eternal life with him forever.
If youve gone to church, youve probably heard people talking about being saved. But what does the Bible say about what it means to be saved? Using the HelpFinder Bible index, lets dig into that question.
ROMANS 4:8 | What joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.
ROMANS 3:24 | Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight.
PSALM 103:12 | He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
Being saved means your sins have been completely forgiven and removed.
What Does Salvation Mean
The simplest definition of salvation is to be delivered from peril. The word took a bit more of a shape when I figured out it was connected with the preacher telling us we needed to get saved. The most common meaning of salvation is to be saved by God from the consequences of our sin. But the Bible speaks of our salvation in a bit fuller terms than simply being rescued from hell.
When thinking about salvation its helpful to think about what we are saved from, what we are saved to, who we are saved by. Its also helpful to think about our salvation as a past, present, and future happening.
Whether you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart recently or have been Christian your whole life, the most important thing you can do from here is to grow your faith. for how to grow into a stronger faith filled with trust.
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Misconceptions About Universal Salvation
Misconception:First Corinthians 15:22 teaches universal salvation by saying that in the Christ all will be made alive.
Fact: The context of this verse discusses the resurrection. So the phrase in the Christ all will be made alive simply means that all who are resurrected receive this blessing through Jesus Christ.John 11:25.
Misconception:Titus 2:11 teaches universal salvation by saying that God is bringing salvation to all people.International Standard Version.
Fact: The Greek word translated all in this verse can also mean every kind or variety. * Thus, the correct understanding of Titus 2:11 is that God is making salvation available to all sorts of people, including people out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.Revelation 7:9, 10.
Misconception:Second Peter 3:9 teaches universal salvation by saying that God does not desire anyone to be destroyed.
Fact: God wants people to be saved, but he does not force them to accept his provision for salvation. His day of judgment will include the destruction of the ungodly people.2 Peter 3:7.
^ par. 1 The Bible refers to a person as having been saved even though his or her actual salvation from sin and death is yet to come.Ephesians 2:5 Romans 13:11.
^ par. 5 The name Jesus is derived from the Hebrew name Yehoh·shua, which means Jehovah Is Salvation.
What Does It Mean To Be Saved What Does The Bible Say About How To Be Saved
Is the Word Once Saved, Always Saved Tenable?
I believe many brothers and sisters in the Lord are familiar with the word salvation and want to be saved by believing in the Lord. Moreover, everyone preaches these words Once saved, always saved. Then, does once saved mean always saved? If we want to figure out this question, we first need to know if these words are right and if there is any reference in the Lords word? Whatever views we hold onto, we shall not rely on our own notions and imaginations. Only if we find the basis from Gods word can we act in harmony with Gods will.
What Did God Say About Salvation?
Many brothers and sisters would say: It is based on the records in the Bible that we believe in the Lord in this way. Is this truly the fact? Lets see what the Bible says about salvation.
The Lord Jesus said: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved .
He that believes and is baptized shall be saved but he that believes not shall be damned .
But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved .
Whats the True Meaning of Salvation?
Whats the Difference Between Being Saved and Being Forever Saved?
How to Achieve Being Saved Forever
Dear brothers and sisters, have you found the way of being saved forever through todays fellowship?
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