Salvation

1.What does it mean to “be saved”?

To be saved is to become a child of God, to receive forgiveness of all sins and the gift of eternal life.

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:

John 1:12

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

The testimony is this: that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

1 John 5:11

2.If God said, “the wages of sin is death,” how can He forgive our sins and prevent their consequences on our lives?

Jesus died and rose again. He became a man like us, took upon Himself the punishment for sin in our place and conquered death, offering us life.

But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:5-6

(See also Romans 5:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; 1 Peter 2:24.)

3.Is it true that God is willing to forgive all our sins?

Yes. All of them!

“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the LORD: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isaiah 1:18

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Psalms 103:12

4.What must we do to receive this great salvation?

We must repent of our sins and believe that Jesus died and rose again, conquering sin and death forever.

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

Acts 3:19

They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 16:31

5.Can’t we earn or deserve salvation if we are good?

No. We are saved by the grace of God (by His favor and His love, which we do not deserve), not by our own effort.

for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

6.Can’t we free ourselves from our sins, and from the terror of death, by other means, without depending on Jesus?

No. If we do not turn to Jesus, we are lost.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

John 14:6

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”

Acts 4:12

12.Why is it necessary to be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

Without the new birth, all are spiritually dead (without the new life that God gives and under the sentence of death) because of the guilt of their sins.

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:1-5

13.Is it important that we confess our faith in Christ publicly?

Yes. Faith involves a new relationship with, and commitment to, God and society.

Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 10:32-33

that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:9-10

14.Is it possible to be absolutely certain of eternal life?

Yes. This certainty comes from the Word of God, from what He has done for us and from our own spiritual fellowship with Him.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 5:13

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

15.When a person dies, where does that person go?

At death, the person is taken immediately into the presence of God.

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. […] Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; […] We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:1,6,8

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. […] But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

Philippians 1:21,23

16.What will happen to the body of the one who believes in Jesus?

The body will rot in the ground like any other, while that person’s spirit returns to God. When Jesus returns to earth, He will raise the body, and the individual will once again have a full life.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.

Philippians 3:20-21

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44

17.Will the rest of creation share in the salvation that Jesus came to bring?

Yes. When Jesus returns, all creation will be renewed.

that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

Romans 8:21