Theology
Salvation
Salvation is the process by which we, as human beings, are saved from spiritual death and eternal damnation. It is the result of a loving God’s gracious gift to us… a gift that is freely offered and which must be freely accepted. The details of this process are extremely interesting, important and consistent with the nature of God. However, the comprehension of all these details is not a prerequisite to our salvation. (Thank the LORD!) Nonetheless, the details are worth knowing -- in part because they help strengthen our faith and in part because knowing the details helps us defend our faith and evangelize the world.
To understand the process of salvation, it is absolutely necessary that we understand something of the One who authored the process. This means that we should know as much as we can about the nature of God. For a brief discussion click here.
Because God is immutable, His Word is absolute and unchanging. Whenever He establishes a law, it is irrevocable and universal. Therefore, when God says the wages of sin is death, it is by fiat permanent and binding. Since the spiritual process is our primary concern here, we will focus our attention on spiritual death. The natural assumption is that spiritual death implies termination of spiritual existence. This is not so. Spiritual death is separation from God. Whenever we sin, we separate ourselves from a holy and pure God. We are on our own by choice because we did not want to stand with God in obedience.
Spiritual death is demonstrated precisely in the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). He was then privileged to live in an idyllic setting prepared especially for his enjoyment. God placed only one restriction on man in this paradise. He forbade man to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil lest he die (Genesis 2:15-17). The rest of the story we know. Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and were expelled from the Garden and from the presence of God. This separation is spiritual death, the result of sin or disobeying God.
The consequences of this first sin (as with almost all sins) reaches far beyond the personages of Adam and Eve. Like a shock wave rippling through history, this first of all sins reeks its havoc in such a deceptive way that each of the seed of Adam has felt the unmistakable sting -- the sting of death! We all know that anything dead cannot produce life. Scientists have universally embraced this fundamental truth since the days of Pasteur. But what is true for the physical world is just as true for the spiritual world. When Adam and Eve died spiritually, they lost the potential for imparting spiritual life to their offspring. They did not have spiritual life to give, hence their children were born into this world not made in the image of God (with spiritual life), but instead were born into this world made in the image of Adam, who was spiritually dead (Genesis 5: 3). Subsequently, all who have been born into this world as seed of Adam are without spiritual life. This means we are separated from God and because of this separation we cannot know God’s will for our lives. Therefore, we sin because of our separated state (our spiritual death). In simple terms, we sin because we are sinners by nature. We are not sinners by nature because we sin.
Now, it would be great if we could see this through our own understanding, quit sinning and "reconnect" with God. We cannot -- in part because we don’t want to (John 3:19-20), but also because it is impossible for that which is dead (us) to produce life. We live under the curse of Adam and the law that sin brings death. If we paid this penalty of death ourselves, it would eliminate any hope of re-establishing a life of fellowship with God (because, obviously, we would be dead). Because God is Love and because He is omniscient, He has a plan for our redemption (paying the price that buys us out of slavery to sin and Satan). God’s plan is consistent with His nature as our Loving Father and Righteous Judge. As our Loving Father, God will take care of His children whatever the cost. As the Righteous Judge, He cannot allow sin to go unpunished and the law to be unfilled. This apparent antinomy of principles actually demonstrates the relentless consistency of the scriptures and the Love of our Heavenly Father. God, in His infinite wisdom and love, planned before the foundation of the world to substitute His own Son in our place as a willing sacrifice for our sins. (See Revelation 13:8 and 1 Peter 1: 18-20) This plan beautifully demonstrates the incredible love that God has for us, in that He willingly let His Son die in your and my place. At the same time, it demonstrates the consistency of God’s Word in that God makes no exceptions in regard to the demands of the law.
Here is how God’s plan works:
Satan has a "legal" claim against you and me - both because of imputed or original sin and because of committed sins. Therefore, we deserve the death penalty and cannot hope for life through our own efforts. A substitution for us would pay the price of death demanded by the law, but since everyone else born of Adam is also guilty and deserving of the death penalty, there is no one who could substitute for us. That is where the atoning death of Jesus comes in. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. Joseph was not His real Father; God was. Therefore, Jesus entered this world without imputed sin since He was not of the seed of Adam. He lived a sinless life so that He was not deserving of the death penalty. Because Satan had no claim against Jesus, Jesus could stand in my place as a substitute if He were willing to do so.
So far this sounds acceptable (or at least legally fair), but to most people the substitution becomes unacceptable (not legally fair) when we consider that one innocent man is allowed to substitute for countless guilty parties. Again, the consistency of the Scriptures is evidenced when we consider that it was through the sin of one man, Adam, that all men are declared guilty. Because of that, the substitution of one man, Jesus, fairly pays the price for all mankind’s guilt (Romans 5:17-19). As a result of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, we are provided a means of escaping the death penalty. This is a free gift that Jesus makes available for the accepting. Jesus loved us enough that He paid the price we owed because we owed a price we could not pay. There is much more to discuss, but some already know they have never accepted this gracious gift that God offers. For those, I would beg you right now to bow your knees and acknowledge your sin and your inability to pay the price. Then accept Jesus as the payment in full required by the law for your sin and you will be saved!
This really is a beautiful plan, but God was not satisfied simply to offer us heaven in the hereafter. God wants us to live the victory in the here and now. The cross pays the price for our Sin nature and we are saved forever. It’s that simple! All we do is accept the free gift that God offers. So, why then do we keep on sinning and why does Jesus say, "take up your cross daily and follow me?" (Luke 9:23) That is because salvation (or redemption) is only one part of the process of regeneration. Regeneration also involves something called sanctification. Redemption is an essentially instantaneous process by which Jesus substitutes His death on the cross for ours and pays the legal penalty for our Sin. God, as our Righteous Judge, "looks down" and sees the blood and is satisfied that the law has been fulfilled. The next part of the process of regeneration is ongoing and continues throughout our earthly life. This part is called sanctification. It involves the substitution of Jesus’ life for ours. This is important to understand, because without this substitution, we would be doomed to spend our days on earth living in defeat and waiting for a promised victory. That is not what God has in mind. He offers us a victory now; a victory so radical that by it we are transformed into a new creation; a victory so radical that the world can’t even comprehend it and rejects it outright for lack of any comparable standard in the natural world. But in order for Jesus to substitute His life for ours, it would mean that He would have to rise from the dead after His crucifixion. Isn’t that neat? That is exactly what Jesus did! There is only one other condition necessary for this substitution to take place. We must die to self so we can live to Christ. Galations 2:20 says, " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (KJV) Since Jesus has already died as a result of sin and the requirement of the law, Satan no longer has a legal claim against His life. Therefore, as long as the life we live in the flesh is actually Christ living in us, Satan has no claim against us and we live in victory in the here and now. That is SALVATION! That is the beginning of a new life. To see this process graphically we will return to our "Trilogram".
Notice that the center part is now different. It is not an empty void. It has attributes and features of its own. That is because our spirit is ‘quickened" or made alive. This happens because we have received spiritual life from the resurrected Lord. His Spirit has reunited with our spirit and that means we are no longer spiritually dead. We have been "reborn" and our spirit is now alive and able to function as it was designed to do. We will see how the spirit functions and interacts with the soul in our discussion of sanctification.
