“The glorious gospel of the blessed (happy) God” (1 Tim. 1:11).
I. Salvation is found in receiving a Person: “But we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). “…Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead… Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Ac. 4:10-12).
II. Salvation is based on believing certain historical facts: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once…After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me…” (1 Cor. 15:3-8; see also Rom. 10:9).
III. Salvation includes many interconnected teachings: Here are some examples: “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Rom. 8:29-30; see also Eph. 1:3-7).
These blessings are necessary to meet the requirements of the law, to correct deficiencies in man, to provide new resources for the life of faith, or to manifest the glories of God. Here are some brief “working” definitions of some of the key words associated with salvation:
1. Foreknowledge, prognosis: “That aspect of God’s nature that gave Him the ability to design the plan of salvation before time with all facts at hand.” Knowing beforehand Satan’s rebellion and man’s joining him as an accomplice, Israel’s failure, their rejection of Messiah (Ac. 2:23), and the personal failures of His people, God nevertheless devised a certain plan that would overrule the devil’s ploys and man’s stupidity; the sovereign Lord would accomplish it in spite of us! It determined His elective scheme regarding Israel (Rom. 11:2), the Christ (1 Pet. 1:19-20), and the Church (1 Pet. 1:2).
Romans 9:11 declares that no failure on man’s part could thwart the overall purposes of God. His choice was made before they had done good or evil, and so anything they might do subsequently could not change His plan. (The word cannot mean fore-loved as used in Acts 26:5 and 2 Peter 3:17). NB: For an interesting case, see David at Keilah (1 Sam. 23:11-12) where God not only knew the future, but the consequences of all the options!
2. Predestination, pro-orizo: “An act of God based on His foreknowledge (Rom. 8:28-30) whereby He makes the goal of adoption certain for the believer” (see Eph. 1:5). This necessitated the pre-planned death of Christ (Acts 4:23-31). It involves the utilizing of hidden wisdom (i.e., what man calls foolishness and weakness) to accomplish it (1 Cor. 1:20–2:16). It leads to two great blessings: to be like the Son Himself (Rom. 8:29); and to be sons in all the privileges and responsibilities of such a position (Eph. 1:5). God’s predetermination guarantees that present circumstances not only will not interfere with this process, but will actually work in us conformity to Christ (Rom. 8:28-30) and guarantees our inheritance in the future (Eph. 1:11).
3. Election, eklektos: “God (for reasons explained in 1 Cor. 1 & 2 where He declares the basis of His choice), in blessing mankind, sets to one side all firsts and chooses all seconds that the plan might be based solely on grace.” The word is used to describe the divine choice of: Christ (Isa. 42:1; Lk. 23:35; 1 Pet. 2:6); angels (1 Tim. 5:21); Israel (Rom. 11:28); the twelve—including Judas (Lk. 6:13; Jn. 6:70; 13:18; 15:16); the Church (Eph. 1:4); and the Tribulation remnant (Mt. 24:22, 24). It should be seen that this election is for a role, designed to bring blessing to the widest possible number. In this age, the sphere of the believer’s choosing is Christ (Eph. 1:4) and is linked to God’s foreknowledge (1 Pet. 1:2). See Jas. 2:5; Col. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:4; and 2 Pet. 1:10).
4. Adoption (son-placing), whyothesia: This is the ultimate goal God has set for the believer (Eph. 1:5), bringing us into eternal realities. We are made sons at the moment of salvation and thus already have received a spirit of adoption “whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” (Rom. 8:14-15), but the son-placing will occur at the time of the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23). By clinging to the law, Israel failed to enter into sonship (Rom. 9:4), a privilege into which we come solely the work of Christ (Gal. 4:1-7). NB references to “My God” in Mt. 27:46 and Jn. 20:17, with the addition of “My Father and your Father.”
5. Grace, charis: (a) The condition of God’s heart moving in good will toward sinners; (b) the extending of merciful kindness to such individuals as a result; and (c) the benefits received as an unmerited gift from the gracious One. Grace is put over against “works” (Eph. 2:8-9), “debt” (Rom. 4:4), “offence” or trespass, and abounding “sin” (Rom. 5:15, 17, 20), and the “law” (Gal. 2:21; 5:4). It is undeserved favor from God to sinners at the expense of Christ. “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 8:9).
6. Repentance, metanoia: Simply, a change of mind. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Man naturally does not think rightly about himself, sin, God, or the way of salvation. In order to be saved, he must be re-educated by the Word. This change of thinking should lead to believing God: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).Repentance is agreeing with God that I deserve to be executed for my sins. Such repentance should evidence itself in “fruits” or “works” suitable for repentance (Mt. 3:8; Ac. 26:20).
7. Faith, pistis: This can refer to the object of faith, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). Or it can refer to the act of believing: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Rom. 3:28). Or it can refer to the content of belief, as in Paul’s testimony, “they had only heard, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed” (Gal. 1:23). With reference to salvation, it involves all three—the reasonable response of the heart to Christ in light of the evidence given by God. See 6 and 7 linked in Mark 1:15.
8. Regeneration, paliggenesia: to be born anew; the imparting of divine life from above, instantly transferring the soul into the realm of the eternal. It is only used once in this sense: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). But the idea is found elsewhere, especially in the words of the Lord Jesus as cited in John’s Gospel. For example, in John 3 regarding being born again (anew or from above). Also note John 5:24.
9. Imputation, logizomai: to reckon, to put to one’s account. “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the Friend of God” (Jas. 2:23). A similar verse in Gal. 3:6 renders the word as “accounted to him.” A different Greek word is used in Rom. 5:13 where the English word “not imputed” means “not registered with complete clarity.” We have the idea of this double imputation in 2 Cor. 5:21, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Included here is the idea of Substitution, where one takes the place of another.
10. Redemption: There are two different words translated by the English word “redemption.” First, apolutrosis means “a releasing effected by payment of ransom” and is used in Romans 3:24, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Also in Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:7, 14; 4:30; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:15 and the cognate lutrosis in Heb. 9:12. Another word, exagorazo, literally “out of the market,” is used in Gal. 4:5, “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” In Hebrew, the gawal was translated as redeemer, kinsman, revenger, avenger, ransom, and deliverer, among others. Ruth gives the divine portrait of our Redeemer. For a link between words 10 & 11, see Rom. 3:24.
11. Justification, dikaiosis: “To judicially declare right so as to have the force of law.” A person is “justified freely by His grace” (Rom. 3:24); “justified by faith” (Rom. 3:28); justified by His blood” (Rom. 5:9); “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11); and “by works a man is justified” (Jas. 2:24). Christ was “raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Grace is the motive of justification, faith the human response, blood the price paid to effect it, the Spirit the agent, works the evidence, and the resurrection the guarantee. (To understand the link between Rom. 4, Gal. 2 and James 2, note the chronology of the three events as given in Gen. 15:6; 17:11; and ch. 22.)
12. Forgiveness, aphesis, aphiemi: in the primary sense, to send away or to abandon. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14). Forgiveness is agreeing to pay the damages done by another, and then never bringing up the account again—sending them away, much like the scapegoat, the azazel. As far as God is concerned, our sins are out of sight (Micah 7:19), out of reach (Ps. 103:12), and out of mind (Heb. 10:17). This is the forgiveness we should practice with others. As the Lord said, “When you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mk. 11:25).
13. Reconciliation, katallasso: “to be returned to favor,” but this is necessary only on our side; God does not need to be reconciled. “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18). Our message to sinners is similarly on their part alone: “we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (v. 20). Paul adds the prefix apo to the word in Ephesians 2:16; and Colossians 1:20, 21 to mean fully or completely reconciled. In Hebrews 2:17, the word should be translated “propitiation.” This word is the same used for “mercy seat” and for God to be “propitiated” means that He has found satisfaction is the blood sprinkled there. God rests in the finished work of Christ. Specifically He has received full payment for “the sins that are past,” i.e., He was holding hundreds of promissory notes given each year on the Day of Atonement, at which times He agreed to live another year in the midst of a sinful people, awaiting the full payment at the hand of Christ.
14. Peace, eirene: A result of justification (Rom. 5:1), and reconciliation (Col. 1:20), it is the “tranquil state of the soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its lot.” Christ “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20). He “came and preached peace” (Eph. 2:17). And “He is our peace” (v. 14). In addition, “the fruit of the Spirit is…peace” (Gal. 5:22) and “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). “Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace” (Rom. 14:19), having our “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15). Peace has been described as, not the outward absence of turmoil but the inward presence of God.
15. Assurance, plerophoria: “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5). There are three aspects to this assurance: “the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ” (Col. 2:2); “the full assurance of hope” (Heb. 6:11); and the full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22). This is also linked with the doctrine of Eternal Security. Assurance may be lacking for three reasons: a person is not truly saved and the Spirit is convicting them; a person is truly saved and living for Christ but is being attacked by the devil to unsettle them; or a person is truly saved but “walking after the flesh” and therefore has no evidence in their life of the life of faith. Assurance does not come by looking at self, however: We “assure our hearts before Him” (1 Jn. 3:19). What Christ did on the cross make us safe; what God says in His Word makes us sure. I can no more assure myself by myself than I can save myself.
16. Sanctification, hagiazo: From the same root meaning of Holiness. In its primary sense, it means to be different, then to be set apart (usually for special attention), then to be wholly for God, and finally that process by which those who have been declared right (justified) shall be ultimately made right. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:12-14). There is positional sanctification (Heb. 10:14), experiential sanctification (2 Tim. 2:21), and ultimate sanctification (1 Thess. 5:23). The Word has a role (Jn. 17:17), as do the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 1:2), other believers (1 Cor. 7:14), and our personal wills (1 Thess. 4:3-4). But it is greatly encouraging to know that “of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us…sanctification” (1 Cor. 1:30). In the mind of God, it is a completed fact (see Heb. 10:10, 14).
If I could only tell Him as I know Him,
My Redeemer who has brightened all my way;
If I could tell how precious is His presence,
I am sure that you would make Him yours today.
If I could only tell you how He loves you,
And if we could through the lonely garden go;
If I could tell His dying pain and pardon,
You would worship at His wounded feet, I know.
—Hymn 809, Redemption Songs