I Understanding Salvation
(Pastor Ian C. Kurylyk)

“Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently”
(I Peter 1:10a)

Only a work of God can make a person become a Christian. It is above the working of natural processes. The Scriptures call this transformation “salvation”. This first chapter is written to give Bible answers to the question, “What is salvation?”

1. Forgiveness of Sins

   a. The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ, God's Son came to this earth to offer Himself as a sacrifice upon the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. He rose from the dead and gives forgiveness to any sinner that accepts Him personally as Lord and Saviour.

   b. God's Word teaches us that this forgiveness is received immediately upon trusting in Jesus. It is not something that we work for or hope for some day, but it is a present possession, received at the moment of salvation. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

   c. Sin is the fundamental problem in man's relationship to God. Sin is a violation of God's laws. It is an offence against the Lord of all creation. In salvation, God has provided for forgiveness so that the root of the problem could be removed. This makes it possible for the blessings of God to be restored to us, and those blessings to be enjoyed for all eternity.

2. Justification

   a. This is another Bible word that God uses to show us what salvation has done for us. It is borrowed from a legal or courtroom setting. Since God is the ultimate and final judge, legal terms have a place in helping us understand our relationship to Him. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25c).

   b. When the Bible says that a person is justified, it means that the Judge (God) has ruled in his favour. He has made a declaration that the one before His judgment bar is righteous in His sight. This is true, of course, because the saved person is accounted by God as having the same righteous standing that His Son Jesus Christ has.

   c. Before salvation a person is the opposite case. He stands before God condemned. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but 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). “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

   d. Even though all sinners have broken God's laws countless times, the blood of Jesus Christ has fully paid the penalty required, so the believer stands fully righteous before God. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

   e. Just as a person who is justified by the judge in an earthly court enjoys liberty and privileges because of it, so does a Christian before God. Before salvation a man is an enemy of God and a criminal before His laws. But justification that comes through faith in Christ brings peace with God and is the foundation for many blessings. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).

3. Escape from Wrath

   a. Sin brings a curse, but salvation delivers the Christian from God's wrath. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9).

   b. This is a precious aspect of salvation that brings great comfort to the Believer. This is salvation from the penalty of sin for all eternity. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

   c. The believer is thereby distinguished from those in unbelief, who are called “them that perish” (as in I Corinthians 1:18 & II Thessalonians 2:10).

   d. Sinful men that get saved are spoken of in the Bible as snatched from the flames (see Jude 23).

4. Birth into God's Family

   a. Salvation brings about a new life in the believer. It is a spiritual life and it is for ever. “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).

   b. This new beginning with a new life from God the Bible calls being born again. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:6-7).

   c. The seed of this new life is the Word of God received in the heart by faith. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (I Peter 1:23).

   d. The new birth is the result of the saving, renewing power of God the Holy Spirit operating within. He makes it a personal reality for all who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

   e. This new life is also experienced by others and the born-again Christian is therefore part of a family in the Lord. We are sons and daughters of God. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).

   f. Being born of God brings a new heart. There is born within a love for God and His Word. The law of God is now written on the heart. “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (II Corinthians 3:3).

   g. So genuine and complete is this work of God that the Christian is, according to God's Word, a new creature. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).

5. A Personal Receiving of the Saviour

   a. Salvation is a personal experience which can only take place one-at-a-time by the individual calling upon God for salvation through Jesus Christ. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

   b. Receiving Christ personally is by faith alone. “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31).

   c. Jesus Christ provided salvation when He died on the cross and rose again. This was a payment sufficient for the sins of the whole world. However, it must be personally received by faith in the Saviour to be possessed by me personally.

   d. Salvation is not just a feeling or a sentiment but is a real personal transaction that brings one to a new position or standing before God. This personal standing before God is called being “in Christ”. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:10).

6. A Relationship to God's Holy Spirit

   a. The Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead. Before salvation God has not been received within, but He does work in the life of a man from the outside. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and draws the convicted soul to Jesus Christ as the only way of peace.

   b. When a soul responds to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit by receiving Christ as Saviour, the same Spirit is the One who applies the saving work of Christ to that person. The believer is thereby reborn by the power of God's Spirit to become a real Christian.

   c. The Holy Spirit also comes inside to dwell within the new believer, never to depart. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).

   d. From His new dwelling place on the inside, the Spirit of God helps the new Christian to overcome sin in the life, to grasp Bible truths, to do the will of God day by day, and to be a witness of the saving power of Jesus Christ.

   e. The Holy Spirit enables the Christian to enter into a genuine experience of the things of Christ as he walks by faith in his earthly pilgrimage. The Spirit's presence is also a token of God's promise of an inheritance in God's eternal kingdom after this life. “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12-14).

7. A Place in God's Heavenly Kingdom

   a. Immediately upon salvation, the believer in Jesus Christ is translated into a new spiritual kingdom. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:12-13).

   b. The glory of the kingdom is not yet openly shown, but it is promised for the future. Every Christian is promised an eternity of peace, joy, and glory in God's eternal kingdom beyond the reach of suffering or death. Peter assures us that salvation brings us “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (I Pet. 1:4).

   c. Christians now are among the poorest and lowliest people of the world but the Lord has a plan to openly show their place as His sons. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8: 18-19).

   d. Part of God's salvation plan for every Christian is a heavenly home in God's house for ever. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

   e. Believers who die go immediately to be in the presence of the Lord in heaven when they leave this world. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.... For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:21, 23). In another place Paul writes, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8).

   f. The Bible teaches us that the Lord will soon return to take believers up to be with Him in what is often called the Rapture. The bodies of believers who died will be resurrected and those who are still living will be caught up with them to be forever with the Lord. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:16-18).

   g. After a time of great trouble to this earth (which we call the Tribulation Period), the Lord will return with His saints and set up His long promised kingdom. When this period of time is over, believers can look forward to the eternal order, as described in The Revelation, chapters 21 and 22.