How Christians Should View Salvation

We’re talking about salvation in regards to Christianity. What is salvation for the Christian? But really what I want to do in today’s blog post is talk about what salvation is.

Next week we’re going to dive into what we do when we doubt our salvation.

We want to do the hard work of laying a firm foundation on the truth about salvation and what it is. We are going to do that through the lens of Scripture.

But before we dive in, if you haven’t already, make sure to grab my free resource, “A Beginner’s 5-Step Guide to Bible Reading,” so you can start reading the Bible today – no matter what book of the Bible you’re reading in.

How Should Christians View Salvation

Literally from Genesis to Revelation, it’s all about God and His salvation and what He does for us, but we don’t have time for that.

These are the verses that I personally wrestled with and found that helped me get a better understanding.

So what is salvation? This sounds like a very basic question, but I want you to pause for a second, and think about how you would verbalize this to someone asking what you mean when you say that, “you’re saved.”

The reason why I want to bring that up is because here in the Bible belt everyone is ‘saved’. Everyone (or most people) calls themselves a ‘Christian’.

It’s important that we look at Scripture so that we can see what God says about salvation. If salvation is a work of God, then we need to see what He says. He is the Author and the Creator, so of course we want to see what He says.

Everyone has a “sin nature”

Someone said (and I don’t even know who it is), but the saying goes, “We’re not sinners because we sin. We sin because we’re sinners.”

It is not something we do. We do sin, but it’s because it’s our very nature. We do what we are and we are sinners.

And I also want to like pause here real quick and say I realize some of these things I am saying is offensive.

But they are the truth. And we’ve got to go through the hard part before we get to the good part. Good news isn’t good if we don’t have bad news. And here’s the reality – there’s bad news. It’s bad.

No one has it together. No one has it figured out and actually the more solutions that people come up with the worse it gets. So the truth is we are sinners That is how we are born and it goes all the way back to creation the fall after creation.

So what does it mean to say I have a “sin nature”?

Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

“All” means “all”. Not some or a few – ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Romans 8: 7-8 – for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

As sinners left to ourselves, it is impossible to please God. You actually can’t please Him if you do not belong to Him – you can’t.

Romans 29- They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

This is important because like I mentioned earlier, I believed since “I was a good moral kid,” that my sin wasn’t terrible. I was cheapening salvation, because I was like, “I don’t murder.”

Never mind my thoughts or my gossip or my pride, all of those things. And so we need to see them as they rightly are. So my prayer through this is that this isn’t to bring shame, but this is true about us.

Galatians 5 – Now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warned you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 2 – and you were dead in the trespasses and sins, which you once walked following the course of this world, following the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

Is sin that big of a deal?

To answer this question, we need to look at what the consequences of sin are. So we have to remember, we view all of this is through the lens of Scripture.

Scripture is God’s word given to us. He is the Author of creation and everything. We want to see what He says about it.

Romans 6:23 – for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thinking back to Genesis 3. What happened when Adam and Eve sinned?

God sought them out. He gave them a chance to repent.(They didn’t – instead they pushed blame on others.)

And then what did He do? He provides a sacrifice for their sin. It included death, blood, and covering.

Spoiler alert – this points to Christ’s ultimate atonement for sin on the cross.

Galatians 6:7-8 – do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Why are consequences so extreme?

This is where we need a correct view of who God is.

We don’t naturally WANT to think about God. We like to think about what is right in front of us, what can meet our needs like, right this second.

God is holy and righteous.

Hebrews 10: 30-31 – for we know him who said vengeance is mine I will repay and again the Lord will judge his people it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God

God is living and active. He didn’t create the world and then step away and will come back later when things get super bad. No, He is personal. He is absolute. He is unchanging. He is omniscient.

He knows everything, and He’s present everywhere and He knows you on a personal level. He knows the number of hairs on your head.

To have someone who knows everything about you is an incredibly vulnerable place to be.

Luke 12 says, “I tell you my friends do not fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more they can do, but I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you to fear him.”

The holiness, reverence and the fear of who God is and what He can do is something we must discipline ourselves to think about and meditate on.

Here’s the thing. It’s true whether or not you think about it or not. So we want to see him rightly.

Let’s get to the Good News

I said this already, but without the bad news, good news is just news. So we had to say the bad part first.

Now that we’ve covered the truth of our sinfulness and of God’s holiness and His righteousness, let’s get to the good news.

I’m going to argue that it’s GREAT news.

Romans 5:6–9: [6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

God is not waiting for you to get your act together. That’s actually impossible. But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, while you were actively rebelling against him, Christ died for us.

That is beautiful! And that is something we should never get used to.

Colossians 1:15–23 [15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [17] And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

[21] And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [22] he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, [23] if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Ephesians 2:1-3 [1] And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—[3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

[4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The idea that God makes us “the best version of ourselves” is such a falsehood!

We are a brand new creation.

We are redeemed.

We are not the same.

And it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It is a gift of God.

Why? So that no one may boast.

Philippians 2 is another beautiful passage.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Our salvation is not based on feelings. It is based on the reality of what God has done for us.

Why does God give us salvation? What is His motivation?

Hebrews 12:2: looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jude 24–25: Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, [25] to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

What is salvation?

Colossians 1:13-14: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He delivered us, not us, he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.

John 3:16-17 – For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

In Conclusion

You weren’t passively “fallen short” you were actively opposing God – in thoughts, words, and deeds.

Salvation is FREE gift from God. NOT based on your works.

God saves because He loves. It’s WHO HE is, not because you’re awesome.

Mark 1:15, Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

This is a very quick and broad view of salvation. You can read my other blog post where I talk about the 3 parts of salvation here.

Make sure to stick around for the second part of this series where we will discuss what to do when we have doubts about our salvation.

See y’all around,

Shai