Who is responsible for my Salvation?
In this salvation thing, who is responsible? Am I responsible for saving myself through my own disciplines and efforts or it is something that is done to me by an outside force? Well, Scripture is clear that is salvation is of the Lord. “No one comes to the Son except the Father draws him”, says John. The term “being saved” denotes to us that it is an outside force that rescues another from danger. That is the work of firefighters, is it not? To rescue or save people from burning buildings. In the same way, salvation is not within yourself and your efforts. You don’t have to do something to save yourself – God does the work, in His own time, in His own way.
Defining salvation
To get to the bottom of this, we must clearly explain what we mean about “being saved”. To be saved is to be forgiven of sin – once and for all. It is to be born again. It is to be changed from being a God-hating, self-centered sinner to a Christ-loving, sin-hating saint. It is to be rescued from the condemnation of sin to the inheritance of eternal life. It is to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light in Christ Jesus. Secondly, is this salvation that happens to you a long term process that progresses with time until you are saved; until you are perfect enough; until your sins are forgiven, or is it an instant wonder that immediately happens to you and your sins are forgiven, you are changed and born again – within seconds? Let’s consult Scripture again,
“And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household - Acts 16:30-31.
Here is a promise given to this man: just believe, and…congrats, you are saved! He didn’t say, believe and then get baptized, believe and then be a good person, you will be saved, does he? In simple terms, just trust (believe) what has been done on your behalf by Jesus on the cross, that is your salvation. Case closed.
Here is another one,
Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness - Romans 4:4-5.
To explain: if you have to work and work to make yourself acceptable before God, then God owes you, He has to pay you for your works by giving you salvation. This is exactly what religions tell people to do. They load heavy burdens and laws to sinners that they themselves cannot keep; “do good works, give a tithe, complete 7 sacraments, speak in tongues, keep the Sabbath, visit Israel, practice the five pillars, pray three times a day, stay away from women, and eat only vegetables.” Yet here Paul says the Gospel is simply a matter of doing nothing, but resting by faith on that which Christ has done for you – that is how you are given perfect righteousness as salvation. This salvation, therefore, is not a reward for the righteous (no one is righteous, but it is a gift for the guilty. Does it make sense?
Faith explained
What does faith alone mean? Faith simply means to trust, to rely on something or someone. For example; one who wears a parachute trusts it, relies on it, and believes on it for a safe landing. To believe on Jesus, therefore, is to trust; rely, not on what you can do to enter heaven but on what Christ has done on your behalf – as the only way you can have your sins forgiven and safely land in heaven without a scratch. The doctrine of salvation by faith alone means that it is God who saves you, not yourself, however, He saves you through you receiving or believing or trusting that hand of mercy based on what Christ has done on the Cross. What if someone extends their hand to give you a gift? Do you have to work for it first before you get that gift? Certainly not, it’s a free gift, you only extend your open hand and allow it to drop in. That is faith! It is to receive the free gift called the forgiveness of your sins. He has done the work on your behalf. Just receive it and you are saved! If you are refusing to receive a free gift, you are – in your pride – saying that you will work your way to heaven. That is bad news for you because you cannot work enough, you can’t be perfect, and neither can your “good works” wash nor forgive your own sins. Abandon your hopes in your “goodness” and trust in Christ’s goodness. It’s by faith alone!
What about good works?
There are some who would say, just believe in Jesus and you are saved, then you can live like a devil it doesn’t matter. That is called easy believism or carnal Christianity. Sorry, that is not Christianity at all. The true doctrine of the Christian Faith says you are saved by faith alone, yet that faith, if it is genuine, must be and will be followed by good works. Therefore, good works are not the root and cause of your salvation but they are the fruit and the result of your salvation – the evidence of being saved. Does it make sense? That is what James the apostle laboured about; that is, if your practical life has zero evidence of good deeds, to help your own neighbour who is without food, then how can you say you have saving faith? True faith affects your heart, which in turn affects your practical life in relation to other humans. That is the relationship between faith and works.
What about baptism?
The Christian water baptism, is, in simple terms, an outward testimony of the inward work of the Spirit. When a new believer, after being saved by faith, agrees to be publicly baptized, they are saying, I am now a new man in Christ, my sins are washed, I have died and been raised with Christ in the newness of life, therefore, I am being baptized to illustrate that. In the New Testament we see individuals being baptized after they had expressed their faith in Christ, not before, to teach us that by the time the convert got to the water, their sins were already forgiven the moment they heard the word and trusted in Christ. Hence salvation is by faith alone, apart from baptism. Yet those who are newly saved must follow on and be baptized, not to get their sins washed again, but to publicly demonstrate or testify that they have been washed. If salvation was by being baptized, then all of Paul’s converts in Corinth, save for just 3 men, went to hell because he didn’t care to baptize them (1 Cor 1:14-17). If salvation was through baptism, then also the thief on the cross – who had a few minutes to live – needed to go down from the cross and run to the Jordan River to get baptized and come back to die (Luke 23:40-43). However, since salvation is by faith alone, the moment he cried “Lord remember me…”, to express his faith in Jesus, was the moment he was saved, forgiven and transferred from darkness to light; instantly! Are you not surprised that our Lord promised Paradise to an evil thief whose life was nothing but destroying other people’s lives? Be surprised no more, because the moment you trust in the Saviour, all your sins are washed there and there, with or without being baptized. Like Mr. Simon Sorcerer, I fear that there are many baptized individuals who are going to hell because instead of repenting and trusting in Christ, they hold on to baptism as their assurance of going to heaven.
What about these verses?
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned - Mark 16:16
The verse above clearly seems to suggest that baptism is part of being saved, does it not? However, a closer look at the latter part “…he who does not believe is condemned” reveals that unbelief alone is the reason for condemnation, in the same way that belief (faith) alone is the reason for salvation. Hence we conclude that faith and baptism were here put together not because baptism helps faith to save a sinner but because baptism is supposed to immediately follow as a symbol and a witness after an individual has already been saved through faith. The same can be said about Peter’s words in Acts 2:38.
Although baptism is not salvation, it is still a significant ordinance of the Church that Jesus commanded His followers to do. Hence those churches who have completely ignored baptism are on the same level of error as those that think you cannot be saved without being baptized. Salvation is by faith alone, without good works or baptism. I rest my case.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast - Ephesians 2:8-9
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began - 2 Timothy 1:9
Amen
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