On Salvation

On Salvation

From the Baptist Faith and Message:

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

B. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His Righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

Here are the issues brought up in this section, some of which have been hinted at earlier in the BF&M.

1. Grace. As mentioned earlier, there is a section in the BF&M devoted to Grace. This will also address the idea of “falling from grace”, “once saved always saved”, and “saved by works or faith”.

2. Purgatory – this is often taboo among evangelical Christians. It is seen as a “holding place” for those who die with sin to wait until their sins have been forgiven through the prayers of the living. However, I took the time to look up the actual Catholic definition and description of Purgatory. What I found was the Purgatory is and EVENT not a PLACE. It is the final shedding of the sinful body and entering of a glorified one. The Catholics believe this EVENT can be painful and can be a long process. Their prayers are simply that the dead will not linger there nor will it be painful. To better describe this, imagine yourself traveling abroad. You must go through Customs. Here, you are removed of items you cannot take and your paperwork is checked thoroughly. If you have too many illegal items and your paperwork is a mess, you could be there a while. If everything is in order, you are allowed to proceed to your destination in a timely manner.

By thinking of Purgatory as an EVENT, as a final removing of the sinful body and transformation to the glorified body, I absolutely agree with this. However, I think that act of dieing itself could be this event and that there is no interim event the soul must endure. It is consistant with the above idea of Glorification.  Whether or not there is an actual PLACE where the dead wait, I think there might have been one BEFORE Christ; but, I will address this at a later date when we discuss Heaven and Hell.  (See post on Last Things, article II)

3. Salvation is offered freely to ALL. This goes against Calvinism and predestination. I will spend the next entire lesson on this.