Romans 8:23 makes it clear that we are not born into God's kingdom as God's children, for if that were so we would not need to be adopted. God has demonstrated His love for us in that while we were His enemies (Col. 1:21), He made the way clear for us to be spared from His wrath, and to be called His children (Eph. 1:5). Surely this is the greatest of topics, for without it no others would matter. Let us turn to then to God's gift to us - salvation through Christ's death, bringing the end to death (Rev 20:14).

 Why did Christ have to die?

• Christ suffered as a sacrifice for us. He did not die for us in sympathy, but in place of us (1 Peter 3:18).
• Christ ransomed us. He paid our ransom in full (2 Peter 2:1).
• Christ reconciled us. Christ changed our relationship with God from one of hostility to one of harmony (Romans 5:10).
• Christ's death served as our only propitiation for sin. He turned away God's wrath from us (Romans 3:25).

 What does it mean to be saved?

There are several terms associated with salvation, and each must be seen as part of the "whole package". They each are true of all Christians (though some are past, some are present, and some are still to come).

• Rebirth: Used only twice in the New Testament (Matt 19:28; Titus 3:5), this term means restoration, renewal, rebirth"... to make anew. In a sinner's life this means passing from death to life spiritually (Eph.2:4-5), or being "born again" (John 3:3). Without this rebirth, no human could see the kingdom of God, and all those outside of it will suffer in hell forever.

 
• Adoption: means to be received into God's family with all the rights and privileges of a son. We are not born children of God (except in the very narrow sense of creation), we are actually called children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Through adoption we are joint heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17) in Heaven.

 
• Forgiveness: has to do with the removal of the deserved judgment for sin (eternal death). We are forgiven when we are repent of our wrongdoing (1 John 1:5-10). It is not wrong for a Christian to ask forgiveness for sin, for although one is positionally right before God (see below), that person still sins practically. Being called sinless and being sinless are two different things (a child may say that they are sorry for stealing a cookie and be forgiven, whereas a righteous child would not have done it in the first place!). Also, while eternal punishment from God will be turned away by His forgiveness, it does not erase the temporal effects of that sin in our lives.

 
• Justification: means to be "declared righteous". This is a picture of God judging us to be in right standing with Him though we obviously are not. It is not simply "just as if" we'd never sinned, it is a declaration based on our having put on Christ and having His righteousness cover our sin (Gal 3:27 cf. Rom. 5:1; 2 Cor. 5:21). Why is this important if we are forgiven? Because to be forgiven would leave us merely neutral - and ready to fall again. Being declared righteous means that we are looked upon as Christ Himself is looked upon! We were born under Adam and his sin, we are reborn under Christ and His perfection (Rom 5:19)! But justification does not mean that we are practically perfect, only positionally, we move toward perfection through the process of...

 
• Sanctification: meaning "set apart". It is the continual process by which our lives are conformed to the position we are given by God. Once justified we are called saints (the root of sanctification), now we are trying to act like one! (1 Cor 6:11). While we are set apart immediately at conversion, God's process now turns to separating us from the world and our own personal sin. This is accomplished by the indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit as we grow in grace and are transformed into Christ's likeness (2 Peter 3:18; 2 Cor 3:18; Gal 5:16). This is not accomplished merely by man, nor is it merely by God. Without God this process would be impossible, but man is expected to respond (Phil 2:12-13). This process will also not end in this life, as our weak flesh continues to battle with our spirit (Gal 5:16-17), but one day the battle will end in-

 
• Glorification: this is the state in which we are freed from sin in totality. It is the final "stage" of salvation, when we will actually be like Christ (Rom 13:11; 1 John 3:2).

How are people saved?

Are we saved by faith?

Although a popular saying, the Bible actually says that we are saved by God's grace - God's free gift - but this grace comes to us through faith (Eph. 2:8-9). Think of it like this: if I sprayed you with a garden hose, it would be the water that made you wet, not the hose..the water comes through the hose. How does this occur? First we must see our need for salvation. It does no good to offer a cure to someone who is unaware that they are diseased. That natural man is in need of salvation is obvious from the descriptions given in Scripture: he is lost (Lk 19:10), condemned (Jn 3:18), under God's wrath (Jn 3:36), dead (Eph. 2:1), hopeless (Eph. 2:12), unrighteous (ROM 1:19-32). Once we have realized our state, we must be willing to trust in Christ's death for us, to turn to God.

We are saved through faith alone, but not faith that is alone.

There are over 100 verses in the Bible that make faith (belief) in Christ the sole condition of salvation (Acts 16:31; John 1:12; Eph. 2:8-9). Yet James says that faith without works is dead (2:17). Does this mean that if works ("good deeds") are not added to faith we are not saved? No it does not. We are saved through faith in Christ alone, anything added to this is heresy. Salvation is a gift (free), not a wage (earned) (ROM 6:23). Trying to win our way to God through our own goodness or good works is fruitless (Gal 5:11). Works are,however, the outworking of true faith. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works (Eph. 2:10). They are the evidence of salvation (Matt 7:20), not its means. Faith is "trust in" or "reliance upon." So faith involves more than simply agreeing with a set of facts (James 2:14-19, 24). One could agree that a chair will hold them up, but faith is shown when they sit on it. This is why it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb 11:6). Mere action means nothing, but neither does mere assent. Thus, true faith will manifest itself in good works (Eph. 2:10).

Here's an example based on a Biblical symbol-that of marriage. Suppose two people wanted to become married. They watch married people and start to do what they do. They move in together, love each other, sleep together, have children, get a joint checking account, and even call each other cute little pet names. Does this make them married? No. They are not married because they were never married. They have all the "works" of a married couple, but not the one thing that makes someone married - a marriage! Now take an unhappily married couple. They have separated, they do not love each other, they do none of the things married couples are supposed to do, but does that make them unmarried? No - they are still married, but their marriage is useless. In our lives with God, our salvation is based on faith in Christ, and works are based on our salvation - not the other way around. Our love for God is what prompts our good works. Going to church, reading the Bible, and teaching Bible studies will not save us. On the other hand we could be saved and not do many good works, but our faith would be dead, useless. And if we were saved and did none of those things would we still be saved? The Bible clearly states that belief alone brings salvation. But lack of works may be an indicator that we do not really believe what we say we do.

What must we believe in?

Faith is also object-based. Faith by itself is worthless, faith is only as valuable as what or who it is placed upon. Paul says that the gospel (good news) message is God's power to save us (ROM 1:16). He defines the gospel in 1 Cor. 15:1-5 which says, "Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared . . ." This is the basic gospel message, it is based on some other important ideas that must not be denied such as Christ's deity, the existence of God, etc. (see Fundamentals for more).

Can a person lose their salvation?

This is a major issue that divides many believers into two different camps - they even have names, although many believers fall somewhere in between them. The two differing theories are named after the men most associated with them (both views were more firmly codified later by adherents). The first is John Calvin and the other is Jacob Hermann ( Arminius) who opposed his teachings. Both of these views came about in the 1500's, and have been debated since then. In fact, Arminius' view was pondered for 7 months during 154 sessions at the Council of Dort and in the end it was labeled heresy! Later, when John Wesley began to take up some of the teachings, it became more popular and affected the Methodist tradition as well as most Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. The most famous way to remember the difference between the two is to use the acrostic TULIP, which was used as a response to the five points of Arminianism. Each letter represents one of the five major tenants of Calvinism.

TULIP

For the sake of brevity we will consider only the last of these tenants, for it seems to be the most important and debated- the security of the believer.

Scriptural arguments for Security:

• John 3:5-6 born again believers cannot be unborn-again
• John 6:37-40 Christ will not cast believers out, none will be lost
• John 10:28-29 includes the believer himself
• Rom 8:29-30 God foreknew who would be saved, if they could lose their salvation this would not be possible
• Romans 8:33-34 no one condemned under Christ
• Romans 8:38-39 Nothing can separate us from the love of God
• 1 Peter 1:3-5 believer's kept by the power of God
• 2 Tim 2:13 He keeps even the unfaithful
• Eph 4:1 chosen before the foundation of the earth
• Eph 2:5-6 We are already seated in the heavenlies.
• Col 2:10 We are already complete in Christ,
• Phil 1:6 Christ will complete His work in us
• 2 Tim 1:12 & Jude 1, 24 It is God who keeps believers
• 1 Peter 1:23 believers are born of incorruptible seed

• Rev 3:16 Jesus said to unfaithful Christians "I will spit you out...
• Jn 15:6 Jesus said he would "throw away branches that do not abide...
• Heb 3:6,14 conditional upon our obedience to God prior to judgment
• There appear to be passages that describe a believer (or believers) that became, or could become lost:
• Mt 25:1-30; Mk 4:16; Lk 8:13; Lk 9:62; Jn 15:1-6; Acts 4:32-5:11; Acts 8:9-24; Rom 11:19-23; Rom 11:13-23; 1
• Cor 9:26-27; 1 Cor 10:1-12; Gal 2:11-14; Gal 5:4; Gal 6:1; 1 Tim 1:18-20; 1 Tim 4:1; 1 Tim 5:8; 1 Tim 6:9-10;
• 2 Tim 2:16-18; Heb 6:4-8; Heb 10:26-31;Heb 10:38-39; James 5:19-20; 1 Pet 5:8; 2 Pet 2:1; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 2 Pet
• 3:17; 2 Jn 8-9; Rev 2:4-5; Rev 3:5; Rev 3:16-17.
• "Believe" is almost always in the present (ongoing) tense
• Christians are to restore the fallen (Gal 6:1; James 5:19-20), how could this be possible if none ever fell?
• The Bible clearly prophesied that some would fall away (Acts 20:28)

Are you saved?

Many times I have heard it said that "If you're worried about losing your salvation, you haven't," or, "If you want to be saved, you already are." Where in the world do can that be found in the Bible? God has said many times what it takes to enter His family, and it's not either of those things. Worrying does not save, neither does wanting to be saved. But we can "know that (we) have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). If you doubt your salvation you must turn to the Word for your answer...always! We can tell others that they are saved too, but we can only do so according to what they tell us. One of the most unloving things we could do would be to reassure someone based on our feelings about them. The answer must always be sought in God's Word, that's where He put the answers in the first place. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves (2 Cor 13:5). Keep in mind always that we are growing in Christ and that part of that growth is failing to do what God wants. We learn from our mistakes. The ultimate failure is not one of falling, but not being willing to get up. The Bible says that if you believe in Christ and confess Him with your lips you will be saved (Rom. 10:9). I hope you have.