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Salvation according to the Bible is a cornerstone of belief and understanding in Christianity. The entire Bible centers on the salvation of humanity and reconciliation with God through Jesus, so it goes without saying that we must have an accurate understanding of this concept.
Why Do We Need Salvation?
The first question that might come to mind as we ponder on biblical salvation is “why do we even need to be saved?” The answer to this query lies in an understanding of the state of humanity and the big problem we all have.
What are we saved from?
To be saved means to be rescued or delivered from something, so what exactly are we saved from? In a nutshell, we are saved from the eternal consequences of sin.
What is sin?
Sin is often defined as any action, thought, or behavior that goes against God’s will. But it’s more than that. Sin is our very nature right from birth!
How did we get this nature? It was passed down to us from our first parents, Adam and Eve, when they rebelled against God by disobeying Him and eating the fruit of the forbidden tree.
The punishment for sin
The punishment for their sin — and everyone’s sin after them — is to physically die and also be separated from God for all eternity. God is perfectly holy and righteous, and He cannot allow sin into His Presence!
Unless we’re somehow transformed from sinful beings into perfectly holy and righteous people, we can’t have fellowship with the holy God of the universe. This is why we need salvation!
What is the consequence of being unsaved?
If we reject salvation, we reject eternity in fellowship with God, and the only thing left for us is a place full of torment called hell. I answer the question of why God sends people to hell here.
Who Saves Us?
Salvation can only be the work of God because we are born helplessly sinful and unable to approach God on our own.
We might try to do a bunch of good things to make God happy so we can end up in paradise (and this is the most common theme in the religions of the world), but God is infinitely holy, infinitely good, infinitely righteous, and infinitely infinite! How can our good deeds ever measure up to Him? Short answer, they can’t!
How Do We Get Saved?
We can never do enough good things to earn salvation, so God had to do it Himself.
What God did
God became a Man called Jesus Christ and walked the earth 2000 years ago. He ate, drank, slept, spoke, worked, laughed, and hung out with His friends just like we do! He was even tempted just like all of us, but there’s one significant difference between the Man Jesus and us mere mortals…He is completely sinless!
This Man, after living a perfect life, died on the cross for the sins we are guilty of. This act was the demonstration of God’s love for humanity. Not only did He die for us, but He resurrected on the third day and is alive today!
How we receive it
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what gives us access to salvation, and we receive salvation through repentance.
What is repentance? It simply means to change your mind about your sin and who Jesus is. It means to go from “Jesus is not God. I’m not a sinner, I don’t need salvation” to “Jesus is God and I’m a sinner. Lord please save me!”
Repentance is often misconstrued as a change in actions, but remember, no good thing you could ever do would make you righteous. Not even changing your sinful ways, because sin is a nature.
The true repentance mentioned above demonstrates faith in Jesus to save you and cleanse you from all your sins. In doing so, you’re effectively trusting His work instead of your own.
The way we receive salvation is summed up as “by grace, through faith”. It is only by God’s grace (His power and kindness) that we have the opportunity to believe in Jesus and receive the free gift of salvation.
Salvation FAQs
Are some people predestined for salvation?
No, God doesn’t predetermine who gets saved and who doesn’t. Predestination simply means that long ago, before we were even created, God decided the result of trusting in Jesus. He predetermined that anyone who trusts in Jesus would receive eternal life, but He didn’t decide who would or wouldn’t trust in Jesus.
Is salvation a process?
Yes and no.
The work of salvation has been completed even before the earth was created, because God is eternal. Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) and “was foreordained for this purpose before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20).
2000 years ago, this plan was carried out, and the work was finished on the cross, in time. But outside of time, in eternity where God dwells, the work had already been completed.
With that said, salvation is a process in terms of the renewing of our minds after we get saved. We don’t become more holy, more sanctified, or more anything after salvation. We are completely regenerated and made new, but our minds need to catch up to the truth of the finished work of Christ and our identity in Him, and that’s the process.
Our bodies will also be regenerated at the Resurrection, so in that sense, we haven’t experienced the fullness of our salvation yet, but the reason we can look forward to that is because Christ has already done all the work.
What happens after you get saved?
So many things happen at the exact moment of salvation: you are born again by the Spirit of God, you are completely regenerated and made alive in Christ, you are justified before God, you are seated in Christ in heavenly places…the list goes on!
After getting saved, it’s a good idea to understand who you are in Christ so that you can walk according to it. I wrote a free ebook that will help you in this regard.
What happens when you sin after getting saved?
Remember how we’re saved? By grace through faith, not by works. This means your salvation is not dependent on your actions. It is solely dependent on what Jesus has done on the cross!
No one completely stops sinning even after getting saved, because our bodies haven’t been regenerated yet, and God knows this. This is why Jesus advocates for us (1 John 2:1).
If you sin after being saved, remember who you are in Christ. Remember that you have been made righteous now. Sin is no longer a part of you. What’s more, God has given you His own Spirit to help you live according to the righteous nature in you!
Conclusion
What’s the point of salvation?
We need to be saved because humanity has fallen into sin, a disease that is part of us right from birth. Sin has separated us from God and ushered death, pain, and suffering into the world, but through faith in Jesus, we can be reconciled to God and have hope for a sinless and painless future in His Kingdom.
