There’s more to the Bible than salvation, but like nothing else in the Bible, salvation is the center of attention. I believe you and I should share that same focus.
But there’s a problem… at least for me. I can’t define in clear terms the requirements for salvation. Can you? As a Christian, this is a fundamental belief I can’t continue to overlook. And if you’re not clear on it, neither can you.
Let me give an example of how salvation can get muddy.
The virgin birth example
I believe Mary, Jesus’s mother, was a virgin when Jesus was conceived. To me, that’s an important part of my belief in Christ – without it, I find it difficult to hold that Jesus was in fact Christ, God in human form.
But is a belief in the virgin birth required for salvation? No, I don’t think it is.
Here’s why. I accepted Jesus into my heart when I was five years old. At the time, I had no idea what “virgin” even meant. Some might say I couldn’t have received Christ into my heart so young because I didn’t fully understand what it meant. I can only appeal to my own experience and similar experiences of others on this, but I’m pretty sure I did accept Christ that day.
I don’t say this to get into an argument about the importance of Jesus’s virgin birth – many other similar example apply as well. What I’m getting at is this: you and I need to define clearly what’s required for salvation and cut out what’s not… at least for now.
To start…
Salvation is based on what we believe, not what we fail to believe.
As a five year old, I failed to believe in the virgin birth because I didn’t understand it. If I had fully understood it and actively denied it, that might have been more of a problem. But since I didn’t fully understand, I don’t think it stood in the way of my salvation.
But that’s tricky. Almost anytime someone doesn’t believe a specific detail, we could write it off as a lack of understanding. For example, what if someone says they don’t believe Jesus died on the cross? We could assume that’s because they don’t understand how it could happen. But is that on the same level as the virgin birth?
No, I don’t believe it is. So the question is…
What elements of salvation are crucial for a belief in salvation?
That’s the question I’d like you and I to flesh out in detail.
I know, I know – this can get deep. This is the territory of theologians and professional Bible studiers. But as Christians whose job it is to share salvation with others, we better get fairly clear on it. Otherwise, we’re wasting everyone’s time trying to reach the lost world.
I’ve started sharing what I think is crucial in You’re not a Christian if… (Part 1) and plan to expand on that. But more than agree with me, I hope you can run through this process on your own.
Here’s my challenge for you (and me) in constructing salvation:
Construct salvation so a five year old can believe.
I don’t mean dumb it down. I don’t mean drop out essentials. I mean get specific about what’s actually required in terms anyone can understand.
If you’re a parent, you might have already gone through this. My challenge is to keep salvation that simple… not make it more complicated for anyone over five years old.
Serving Suggestions:
(1) Begin contructing salvation. Write it out in clear, non-Christian terms.
(2) Share some of what you come up with in the comments.
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I mostly am commenting to get on the email list for comments…
But.
1. We gotta understand that God is perfect.
2. We gotta understand that we are sinners who can’t know God without Jesus being on our side.
3. In order for Jesus to be on our side, we’ve got to believe that He died for us, was buried, and actually physically rose from the dead. (“On the third day” is important, but not crucial for salvation, IMO).
4. The rest, quite literally, is up to God. Well, really, even all this is up to God, but from our human side of the fence, this is the part that we do in the salvation process.
I think all true Christians, at some point, confront the issue of the God-man union, the virgin birth, the nature of salvation, the question of the return of Christ, etc etc etc etc.
I don’t believe that hardly anyone would claim to understand all these details at the moment of salvation. That moment is often difficult or impossible to define or find, to be honest. I searched for YEARS for some tangible knowledge that such a moment had occurred. I prayed the sinners prayer MANY times. Which one worked? Did they all work? I first came to Christ at age 11. Some would say that I probably wasn’t really saved then, some would say I definitely was. I definitely didn’t say “the right prayer”, but I came to Christ as best I knew, desiring to be saved. I KNOW He heard that prayer. I see that as the beginning of my salvation journey, 30 years ago, but it took until 2007 to find a faith that isn’t so easily shaken.
Each person has to come to Christ with the knowledge and faith of the moment. If they have enough to cause them to trust, we should encourage them to trust. Encourage them to make every effort to put their faith in Christ. We shouldn’t trick people into being saved, we should encourage them. Encourage them to begin that journey of finding Jesus Christ. It may take days, months, or years, before their faith comes to be solid, or it may happen in a moment because they already have a portion of faith. Never concentrate on “the moment”, or create unrealistic pressure with the “you have to believe ALL of this RIGHT NOW, or else you’re on your way to hell” mentality. Trust the grace of God and trust His power. Always be willing to plant the seed and encourage someone to trust Christ. The word will not return void. God said that.
Let’s trust the power of the Gospel, not the “moment we said the prayer.”
Thank you for your indepth response. I agree with what you’ve said so far. None of us are going to understand everything, especially before we receive salvation. That’s the wonderful part about it – God’s glory keeps expanding on us. As someone once said, “He’s so dang big!”
I especially like your (and the Patriciazell’s below) emphasis on salvation being a process. While I definitely think there can be a moment of conversion, it’s always a continuing process. As cliche as it sounds, it’s just like any relationship. We hear about someone; we meet that someone; we become friends with someone.
Conversion is (perhaps) like meeting someone. For some people, that introduction is more gradual than, “Hi _______, this is Jesus. Jesus this is _______.”
Overall, I like the points you outlined. Thanks for starting this off. I have a question, though: Would you add another point to clarify that Jesus is God/God’s Son/perfect/or anything else?
-Marshall Jones Jr.
First, salvation is not about going to heaven when we die. Salvation is about having the ability to overcome the evil that is in the world with the ultimate goal of defeating death when Christ returns (I Corinthians 15). In a sense, salvation is the outcome of our walk with God as His sons.
In order to experience salvation, believers must be born from above which is simply God creating the spirit of righteousness (that is what made Christ His Son) within us and then indwelling us through His Holy Spirit. We experience salvation as we allow God to deal with us and set us free from all the destruction and loss that evil has brought into our lives.
Now, as people die up until the return of Christ, we can rest assured that death will not separate them from God’s absolute love (Romans 8:37-39). And, we can rest assured that God’s absolute love never fails (I Corinthians 13:8).
As I said in my other comment above this, I like your emphasis on the process, instead of the point, of salvation. I think from God’s perspective, there was a definite point where salvation was made available: the moment Christ died on the cross (even that gets muddy, though, because I don’t think God experiences time the way we do). But for us, it’s seems like a continual process of our relationship deepening.
I’d like to dig deeper into what you said, though: “We experience salvation as we allow God to deal with us and set us free from all the destruction and loss that evil has brought into our lives.”
Specifically, how would you say that happens? How do we allow God to do that?
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Read the 10 Commandments. That is God’s Law. Have you followed every one of those in thought, word, and deed every minute of every hour of every day that you’ve been alive? Yes or no?
If you say yes then you REALLY need to be more honest and look deeper.
If you say “noooo….”
Then you are being honest because not one person who has been alive (except for Christ) has been able to do that. That is THE DEFINITION of sin. We are ALL sinners, and because of that… we sin.
God’s law demands PERFECTION. Perfect adherence to the His law. God, being a perfect being, gets to demand this of us. God, also being a righteous and just being, will judge us according to our sins. That judgement, based on our thoughts and actions in the presence of God’s law, has earned us all a toasty place in hell! It’s what we deserve. We, by nature, being sinners, rebel against God. We HAVE NOT followed the law, and the consequence is constant, eternal, conscious punishment in hell. Jesus himself preached about it, it IS REAL. BELIEVE IT!
God, loving us so much, sent his only son to Earth. Jesus (All God and ALL man) who is one person of the triune God (The Father, Son, Holy Spirit) was with God in the beginning…. IS God. Jesus, God in flesh, came to Earth, lived the perfect, sinless life that we (as sinners) cannot live. Jesus, being perfect, sinless, blameless before God…. Jesus then endured, literally, excruciating pain and punishment in our stead. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified and died. God in flesh DIED in our place and spent 3 days DEAD. (GOD let himself be murdered for our salvation!) On the 3rd day God raised Jesus from the Dead. He was then witnessed by many people, then rose again to heaven to take His place with God the Father. Jesus, now having paid the price for OUR nasty, EVIL SINS, has the power to forgive our sins and make us righteous with His blood. In fact, this should all be past-tense as it has ALREADY occurred.
Now, by FAITH ALONE in Jesus Christ to handle the forgiveness of our sins, to grant us His righteousness, and intercede upon the punishment that we deserve from God. By this faith we are saved!
This faith is a even a gift from God. He gives us faith in Him. And from this faith, and the righteousness in Him that comes through it, we are able to experience such things as repentance and forgiveness of sin.
Faith that God sent Jesus to pay the price for OUR sins, that He died and indeed rose again from the dead is what is required for our salvation.
This faith comes to us from the Word. By hearing the Word preached to us, reading the Word in scripture, or receiving the physical manifestation of the Word through Baptism. Like fishing with a net… the Word is the net and we are the “fish”. When we get ‘caught’ by the ‘net’ of the Gospel, we receive the faith in Jesus and thus, salvation!
Pretty awesome!
Another way to look at it:
Say you’re a criminal, a thief, and stole a car from your neighbor. You get caught and go to court. Now the Judge, being an honest and fair judge who knows the law and MUST uphold it…. finds you guilty. The evidence is too much (it’s on videotape, your fingerprints are everywhere, and they found you IN THE CAR!) There is NO DOUBT of your guilt. The Judge/Jury finds you guilty. The Judge sentences you to a month in jail and $3000 fine. ALL OF A SUDDEN the Judge’s son stands up in the back of the courtroom, walks up to his father (the Judge) and tells him that he will pay your fine and serve the prison term for you! WOW! The prosecutor signs off on it, they take him away to jail, and he gives to bailiff a check for $3000. You get to go home! The judge’s son will not let you pay him back, you didn’t ask him to do it, you don’t deserve it, but you can’t argue that it didn’t happen! Just accept it to be true. Be thankful and accept it!
THAT is the Gospel. The substitutionary atonement for your sins. God’s son Jesus Christ paid the price for the sins of ALL MANKIND (you, me, everyone!) We can’t DO ANYTHING about it. We DO NOT deserve it. We didn’t ask for it. We SURELY did not EARN IT! We just need to ACCEPT IT and BE THANKFUL for it!!
Now, I think even a child should be able to understand that…
I hope this helps!
God Bless!
-Dave
Thanks for sharing so much, Dave. I like what you said about bringing it back to the ten commandments. Without the law, we have no idea we’re even sinners.
I also like the progression you brought up for how we receive faith. Faith from hearing from the Word of God. That connection is so important.
Again, thank you for joining the comments down here. I appreciate it.
-Marshall Jones Jr.