Salvation
This is the first in a series of essays on the subject of salvation.
The word, save, means “to deliver, to make or keep safe, to preserve.”
In all but a couple of times in the New Testament the word is used as a
verb or a preposition.
To understand the subject of salvation there are a few rules we must
follow:
1. First, we must know what we are being delivered from or what we
are being delivered to. For instance, if I say, “I am saved.” That
statement begs the question, “What am I saved from?” or “What am I saved
to?” Without knowing the “from” or “to” the statement loses meaning.
2. Second, we must know the context in which it is used. Most often
the context defines the meaning and application of words.
3. Third, we need to know what brings about the salvation. For
instance is the salvation brought about by my actions or works, or is
the salvation brought about solely by the actions or works of God and we
are the recipients of that salvation by the grace of God? To illustrate
the above, someone cried out “Lord, save me.” Without any more
information we don’t know if the person was concerned with the condition
of his soul or if he was concerned with the immediate surrounding
conditions. As it turns out, Peter was walking on water to go to
Jesus. When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to
sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. Peter was concerned with the
immediate surrounding conditions and was crying out for the Lord to save
him from drowning. He was not at that time occupied with thoughts of
where he would spend eternity.
There are two categories of salvation taught in the scriptures. There
is the category that deals with our eternal salvation, i.e., our
salvation from the condemning effects of sin, our salvation from being
dead in trespasses and sins, and our salvation into heaven’s glory
world. All aspects of our eternal salvation we find is brought about by
God’s grace and is not by the works or actions of man.
The second category deals with the many timely deliverance God’s
people can and do experience in our timely stay upon earth. Included in
this category is deliverance from ignorance, from vain worship, from
the pitfalls of life, from going about to establish our own
righteousness, from this untoward generation, etc. In this category
certain works or actions are generally required by the child of God to
bring about the deliverance.
2 Tim. 2:10 illustrates these two categories of salvation: “Therefore I
endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” The verse
indicates with the words, “also” and “with,” that these are two
categories of salvation taught in the scripture. One category as we
have discussed pertains to eternal glory. The elect in this verse
already have eternal glory due to the work and actions of God and by his
grace. The second category of salvation is conditioned on the elect
performing some work or action in order to obtain the timely salvation.
This is a conditional salvation. The elect may or may not obtain this
salvation based on whether or not they fulfill the conditions
prescribed. The eternal glory is an unconditional salvation. God has
and will perform everything necessary for the elect to obtain eternal
glory.
Next, one must already have been saved from the condemnation of sin and
from being dead in trespasses and sins before he can experience the
timely category of salvation. Phil. 2:12, 13 illustrates this
principle: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in you
both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.” Thus, we see that
before we can work out our timely salvation God must first have
performed a work in us that gives us both a desire (to will) toward God
and his service and an ability (to do) to perform the service of God.”
Therefore, we have to be saved eternally in order that we might
experience timely salvation.