What You Should Know About
Sin And Salvation
by J. W. Jepson, D,Min.
Copyright © 2007 by J. W. Jepson.
All rights reserved, including the right to grant the following permission and to prohibit the misuse thereof:
The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this book, without changes or alterations*, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes.
*Permission is given for publication of excerpts and condensed versions.
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(KJV) Scripture quotations from the King James Version are public domain.
(NKJV) Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible, New King James Version are copyright © 1990 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
(NASB) Scripture quotations from the New American Standard Bible are copyright © 1972, The Lockman Foundation.
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Contents:
Chapter 9. Repentance And Faith
Chapter 10. Such A Great Salvation
Chapter 9
Repentance And Faith
God has provided everything for our salvation. Our obligation is to repent and believe the good news. Repentance and faith go together like the two sides of a coin. They are two dimensions of the same act of the will.
By repenting and believing, we are not helping God save us. Also, our repentance and faith do not mean that salvation is part God's work and part ours. Salvation is all of God. It is a free gift, provided through Jesus Christ. It is up to us to turn to God and receive it. God commands us to repent and believe the gospel, and He is doing everything wisely possible to persuade us to do so.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to reprove and convict us of sin and call us to Christ (John 16:8). The Church joins the Holy Spirit in this divine call. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come" (Revelation 22:17). The "bride" is the Church.
Repentance.
Conviction of sin; confession of sin; repentance of sin. They all go together.
Conviction itself is not repentance. Although conviction of sin should move us to repentance, it does not always do so. Many sinners are convicted of their sins who refuse to repent of their sins.
In Acts 24:25 we read that when the apostle Paul reasoned with Felix, the Roman governor, about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix trembled. Instead of repenting, he dismissed Paul with the comment that when he had a convenient time, he would send for him. There is no record that ever repented. He brushed aside his golden moment of opportunity.
Many have come under such powerful conviction of sin that they have gripped the back of the pew in front of them until their knuckles turned white, only to walk away unrepentant.
On the other hand, some become convicted of sin to the point of despair. They are convicted but never embrace the free gift of salvation. The contrast between Judas Iscariot (Matthew 25:7) and Peter (Matthew 26:75) was this: Judas despaired and hanged himself; Peter repented, believed, and was forgiven.
Remorse also should move people to repentance and faith; however, remorse itself is not repentance.
Confession of sin expresses repentance; however, confession of sin is not the same as repentance. Many people confess their sins who do not forsake their sins. Mercy is promised to those who forsake their sins as well as confess them (Proverbs 28:13).
Honest confession of sin accompanies genuine repentance. King David confessed his adultery and murder (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51:3). The prodigal son confessed to his father, "I have sinned" (Luke 15:18). The dishonest tax collector prayed, "God be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13).
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9 KJV). This kind of honest confession of sin assumes honest repentance of sin.
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7 KJV).
Repentance is turning away from sin by turning to God. In fact, turning to God is the only way a person can turn from sin, just as turning toward one direction is the only way to turn away from the opposite direction. We cannot face opposite directions at the same time; we cannot go in opposite directions at the same time; we cannot serve two masters at the same time (Matthew 6:24).
There are no half-way Christians. Partial repentance is impossible. People who give up one sin or a few sins without giving up sin are merely rearranging their sins, making "trade-offs," and bargaining with God. Such behavioral changes are ultimately motivated by self-interest and not by real love for God and others. This is true even when the changes benefit others or are said to be made for the benefit of others. The sinner might make the changes so he can "live with himself," or to gratify a "sense of duty," without truly turning to God from sin per se.
The story is told of a man who stole $100.00. In the days following his theft, his conscience gave him no rest. He was unable to sleep at night. So he wrote a letter anonymously to the person from whom he stole the money. "Dear Sir: I stole $100.00 from you last week. I haven't been able to sleep since. Here is $50.00. If I still can't sleep, I'll send you the other $50.00."
Real repentance comes from godly sorrow for sin. "For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:10 NKJV).
The person who whole-heartedly repents and fully trusts Jesus Christ for salvation has realized the holiness of God and the sinfulness and guilt of his or her own sin. That person can sing with deep sincerity, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.I once was lost, but now I'm found; was blind, but now I see. 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed."
Faith.
Most of the "religion" in the world consists of human efforts to achieve the benefits and attain the goals of the religion. Mankind loves "do-it-yourself" religion/spirituality. We want to feel that we have saved ourselves. We hate to give up the carrot-and-stick delusion that if we just do all the right things, perform the right rituals, make the right sacrifices, pile up enough good works to out-weigh the bad, and gain enough credits, we will be acceptable to God. The name for that error is autosoterism--"self-salvation." It is the "Little Jack Horner" mind-set: "what a good boy am I." Salvation is not the result of what we do; it is the result of what God has done.
Another notion that has become widespread and deeply ingrained for centuries is that Christ and the "saints" have provided a huge reservoir of surplus merit. This surplus merit is available to us to compensate for our moral deficiencies (sins). This supposed surplus of merit has been created by what are called "works of supererogation," righteous acts of Christ and the saints beyond what they were required to do. The way we are told to receive this merit is through the sacraments, particularly through the Eucharist (communion). This is another "salvation by works" scheme, only this one emphasizes the works of others instead of our own.
One clergyman said that, although he would not do so, if he gave the communion elements to a dog, the "grace of God" would be in that dog.
Silly Neoplatonism. "Free Jerusalem from Athens and the church of Christ from the Academy of Plato!" (Tertullian, ca. AD 155 - 222).
The Eucharist is not "a dose of salvation." Grace is a choice, not a mystical "thing" or essence that we swallow. Grace is God's act of granting unmerited favor to us.
"Sacerdotal sacramentalism"--dispensing "grace" through a priesthood--overlooks the fact that so-called "works of supererogation" are impossible. It is impossible to store up surplus moral merit. Jesus said the first and great commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mark 12:30). This is not an ideal; it is the foundation, the sum, the essence of all religion and morality. Everyone is obligated to do this. We must do no less; we can do no more. Jesus and the "saints" did no more than what they were morally obligated to do. Jesus is the only one who did so perfectly. All the rest have sinned; no-one has a "surplus of merit." We are justified only by grace through faith.
We are not made righteous by the righteous life Jesus lived. We are made righteous by faith in His shed blood. That is how we "eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood" (John 6:53). It is appropriating to ourselves by faith the results of His death, and entering into a living relationship with Him. Without that living relationship we have no life in us, as Jesus said.
When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, God does not impute (count, credit) Christ's righteousness to us. In justifying the believer by faith, God does indeed impute (count, credit) to the believer a fully righteous standing before Him (Romans 8:23, 24; 2 Corinthians 5:21). This is a direct act of God in clearing our record of all sin. It is not crediting Christ's righteousness (moral merits) to us. If God credited Christ's righteousness to us, it would mean that Jesus obeyed God more than necessary and God gave His surplus "righteousness" (merits) to us. It would also mean that we are saved and declared righteous by Christ's righteous life, not by faith in His death on the cross. That would make His death superfluous.
Now that Christ is raised from the dead and glorified at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest, we are indeed "saved by His life" (Romans 5:10); this follows reconciliation and sustains us in our salvation. Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30) because without His death, resurrection, and intercession we would have no righteous standing before God and no victory over sin. Jesus Christ died and rose again to save us from the guilt and the penalty of sin. He lives to save us from the power and the practice of sin. When He returns, He will save us from the presence of sin.
Because wrong ideas about salvation are so pervasive, it is necessary to address them and deal with them. From here on we will give our attention to the only true way of salvation--justification by faith.
Although repentance is a necessary condition of salvation, faith is often spoken of in The Scriptures as the only condition. We are saved by faith alone. The reason for this is that saving faith presupposes and includes repentance. One can have repentance without faith--and get nowhere. One cannot have real saving faith without repentance. Any such "faith" is dead (James 2:17).
Faith is an act of the will. It is the heart (will) receiving, believing and obeying God and the truth. Faith is a whole-hearted commitment to God and the truth. In salvation the heart (will) fully embraces the Object of faith--Christ. When we put our faith in Christ, we turn to Him; in turning to Him, we turn away from sin. Do you want to turn away from sin? Just turn to Christ. It's that simple.
The Funk And Wagnalls Dictionary defines faith as follows. "Faith is a union of belief and trust . . . . as soon as a belief is strong enough to be followed by definite action, the belief becomes faith."
Faith is a choice. There is a kind of faith that is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to some believers (1 Corinthians 12:9). That is not saving faith. Saving faith is our response to God's grace. God does not do it for us. It is not some kind of divine enablement. We can repent and believe; if we could not, God would not have commanded us to do so. When Jesus said to the people, "Repent, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15), our Lord assumed that they had the ability and therefore the obligation to do so.
Ephesians 2:8 and 9 reads: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (NKJV). Some take this to mean than saving faith is the gift of God. But in this passage, "it" is neuter; both "faith" and "grace" are feminine. So, the "gift of God" in this passage refers to salvation, not to "grace" or "faith." We have been saved by grace through faith, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Our will reaches out and receives this gift. God and others lead us to this decision; however, the decision is ours.
Faith is based on the truth. Genuine faith is not "blind faith." It is reasonable; it fixes on the facts--what is real, factual, historical, testable, reliable, true; it is open to honest examination.
Although faith is not contrary to reason, it goes beyond reason. Reason goes only so far. Given the solid foundation on which the Christian faith is built, the faith that goes beyond reason is most reasonable; it is what reason and the facts require.
Faith rests on God's self-revelation. The truth determines faith, not vice versa. Truth--real, objective truth--is always the foundation of and essential to real faith. Without real, objective truth, "faith" is only superstition.
So then, our obligation is to receive and act upon "the testimony of God, that has been authenticated by God." If God is true, His word is true; it is the foundation and the final authority of our faith and therefore of our commitment. Jesus said that the Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35).
Our faith is not in human wisdom but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:5). In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul states that our faith is validated by the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without the resurrection of Christ our faith would be devoid of truth, a hoax, and we would be still in our sins (verse 17). The good news is that Jesus did rise from the dead in time/space history. He is alive!
Faith is a decision. It involves the commitment of the will to the truth. Faith is choosing according to the truth. It is setting the direction of one's being, lining ourselves up with the truth. The result is a lifestyle conformed to the truth. Faith results in faithfulness. Believing and living are inseparable; if we really believe the truth, we will obey it and live it.
Paul said that he lived by the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20). "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17 plus three other passages).
Romans 14:23 says that whatever is not of faith is sin. It goes against what one believes; it is a violation of one's principles, conscience, and moral integrity. That is why unbelief always implies disobedience. Unbelief is a selfish decision to act and live contrary to known truth. Unbelief shuts God out.
We cannot be saved by our own works, by anything that we can do; our sins have already eliminated that possibility. The person who would plead his own goodness before God is out of his mind.
Christ is the only way to God. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6 NKJV). People who object to this as narrow-minded bigotry, who think there are other ways to God, have not thought the matter through. If God could justly forgive us any other way, He would not have sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross. It is irrational to think that the Son of God would have given Himself to bleed and die on the cross if there are other ways to reconcile us to God. Jesus Christ is the only One who made the forgiveness of our sins morally and governmentally possible.
Christ is our only hope, our only Savior. He is the only Object of saving faith--nothing else. It is Christ alone, Christ plus nothing, Christ completely, Christ all-sufficient. Saving faith is resting entirely on the completed work of Christ for salvation.
Saving faith is more than an opinion, more than passive agreement, more than mere mental assent. As we have seen, faith is a moral dynamic, a commitment of the will and thus of the whole being to Christ. Saving faith is believing with all the heart.
Saving faith is a definite act. We cannot span a chasm in two jumps. We might be led through a process of teaching, enlightenment, and conviction; however, the experience of salvation itself requires an act of the will. It is the point where we give ourselves up, commit ourselves to Christ, and receive Him into our hearts and lives. The journey from death to life is one step. Faith is a very simple yet profound act.
Jesus said, "He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (John 5:24 NKJV). "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life" (John 6:47 NKJV).
What does real, saving faith do? (1) Saving faith purifies the heart (Acts 15:9). (2) Saving faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). We are saved by faith alone, apart from works; but we are not saved by a "faith" that won't work. Motivated by love, our faith puts us into action. (3) Saving faith overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). This is the faith that saves; nothing else is.
Here is further testimony from The Scriptures.
"But as many as received him [Christ], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John1:12 KJV).
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14-16 KJV).
"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36 NKJV).
"These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31 NKJV).
"To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:42 NKJV).
"[B]y Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39 NKJV).
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31 NKJV).
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1 KJV).
"For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation (Romans 10:10 NKJV).
Influences.
If people were willing to love and obey God, it would be easy to bring them to faith in Christ. As it is, the effort to convert sinners generally encounters stiff resistance, often downright belligerence. The proud, unreasonable commitment to self and self-gratification is so strong that huge resources, Divine and human, have always been committed to the herculean task of saving souls. These resources are of two kinds: (1) personal agents and (2) instrumental means.
First and foremost among the personal agents involved in converting people is the Holy Spirit. No one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him or her (John 6:44). It is a moral impossibility, not a natural impossibility. They cannot because they will not.
So the Father sent the Holy Spirit to draw people to Christ. The Holy Spirit does not move the human will by force. His influence is moral, persuasive. He seeks to turn the heart by the truth. He combines infinite values, eternal considerations, powerful motives, and thrusts the full weight of their logic on the reason. Truth floods the sinner's mind in a mighty effort to turn the soul to God. Now, what the soul does with the Spirit's gracious influence is its own choice.
The Holy Spirit is giving Himself to the thankless task of winning people from self-destruction. But so long as they hold on to their selfishness, their pride, their self-indulgences, they frustrate Him and make their own salvation impossible. People cannot be born of the Spirit while they continue to resist the Spirit.
And how do people resist the Holy Spirit? By resisting the truth as He presents it to the mind, by putting off obedience, by diverting one's attention to something else, by embracing error--by any action other than honest, immediate surrender to God and faith in Christ.
Genesis 6:3 says that God's Spirit will not always strive with man. What will resisting the Holy Spirit lead to? What are its consequences? Jesus said that if the light that is in us is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23).
As the Holy Spirit is grieved, the heart grows cold and hard. Interest in the gospel wanes. The heart becomes unaffected by its presentation. Light resisted becomes dim. Truth no longer affects the soul. The mind becomes settled in error and self-delusion.
Look at that precious soul! All heaven is filled with anxiety over him, and yet he trifles. Against the opposition of the Holy Spirit and his own reason he stubbornly rejects the Savior. He dashes recklessly on, crashing every roadblock the Spirit of God throws in his path. Once the siren of conscience shattered his complacency as he raced down the broad way to destruction, but now it is almost silent. There he stands on the precipice. The Holy Spirit makes one last desperate effort to save him, but he wrenches himself loose from the Spirit's restraining grasp and plunges himself into outer darkness! The sight is unbearable. Heaven groans in grief.
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus one night. The Lord flatly told him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:5-8 KNJV).
We do not see the wind, but we witness the effects of its power. Just so, we do not see the Holy Spirit, but we observe the results of His influences on the human spirit. He urges the sinner to repent, trust Christ, and live for God. When the heart yields, the person is changed--born of the Spirit.
Believers are also personal agents who are involved in the great evangelistic mission. Christ sent His Church into all the world to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19, 20; Mark 16:15, 16). And so, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come" (Revelation 22:17 KJV). The "bride" is the Church.
The apostle Paul reminded the church at Corinth, "In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Corinthians 4:15 KJV). Paul worked with the Holy Spirit in bringing them to the new birth.
God saves people by means of the truth. The primary instrument God uses to do this is His word, the Bible. The word of God is "the sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17).
"He chose to give us birth through the word of truth" (James 1:18 NIV). Verse 21 says, "[H]umbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you" (NIV).
The apostle Peter states that we are "born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Peter 1:23 NKJV). The "seed" is the word; Jesus said so (Luke 8:11).
God also uses the convergence of providential circumstances to wake up some people and prepare their heart and mind to receive Christ and be saved. Many are the times people under the Holy Spirit's conviction have had a close brush with tragedy, and have realized that through that experience God was speaking to them. Others have experienced some gracious favor from God before they were even saved, and that helped to bring them to faith in their gracious Savior.
Romans 2:4 says that the goodness of God leads us to repentance.
Chapter 10
Such A Great Salvation
A number of years ago a PBS crew did a documentary on an evangelical church. They filmed parts of the services, including clips of the singing and preaching. They covered the ministries of the church and interviewed some of the people. During one conversation the interviewer asked one of the leaders of the church, "What does it mean to be 'saved'?"
Evidently flustered by the pressure of the moment, the man was at a loss for an answer. Of course, that embarrassing moment was included in the final production.
Did the interviewer put that same question to others in the church before he got the confused response he wanted? We wonder.
So, just what does it mean to be saved? What is salvation? Hebrews 2:3 calls it "such a great salvation," and urges us not to neglect it. Certainly it is a great salvation, as we shall see when we consider its nature and its results.
In 1 Corinthians 6:11 we find one of the definitions of salvation. After describing some of the sinful practices of unbelievers, the apostle says to the believers, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (NKJV).
In his second inspired letter to the Corinthians Paul declares, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NKJV).
Being saved is being reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ, accompanied by a total transformation of heart and life.
Forgiveness.
Salvation includes the forgiveness of all one's past sins. The pardon is full and free. The believer is redeemed (rescued, set free) from his/her sins. Ephesians 1:7 equates redemption with the forgiveness of sins. Speaking of Christ, it says, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (KJV).
Colossians is the companion epistle of Ephesians. In Colossians 1:14 the apostle again equates redemption with the forgiveness of sins. Speaking of Jesus Christ, he says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins" (KJV).
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile" (Psalm 32:1, 2 NKJV).
"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:13 NKJV).
"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:12-14 KJV).
"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake" (1 John 2:12 KJV).
"[Y]ou were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (Hebrews 1:18, 19 NKJV).
"And they sang a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:9, 10 NKJV).
Remember, in salvation our sins are not "covered." That was what the sacrifices did under the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7-10). Our sins are blotted out, washed away. Christ "loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Revelation 1:5 KJV).
Justification.
Salvation goes beyond forgiveness. A person who is forgiven still has the offense on his or her record, even though the penalty has been removed. Justification means that God treats the believer in Christ as though he or she had never sinned in the first place. Believers are not pardoned sinners; we are justified saints. In Christ, God has given us a new past. He imputes righteousness to us--"places it to our account (logidzomai)." We stand righteous before God by faith.
Christ was "betrayed and put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised to secure our justification" (Romans 4:25 Amplified Version).
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1 KJV. See also Romans 8:1).
Always keep in mind that we are justified from our sins, not in our sins. A justified person has been set free from sin to live a justified life.
Now is an appropriate place to consider the meaning of water baptism. Water baptism is not part of the saving act itself. The saving act itself is the act of God in justifying the new believer by grace through faith. Nevertheless, water baptism is part of the total salvation experience. Water baptism is intended to be the justified believer's first response to God's saving act. It is "the answer of a good conscience toward God" (1 Peter 3:21). "Answer" means "appeal, response, pledge."
Conversion/Regeneration.
It is common to make a distinction between conversion and regeneration. This is due to the notion that "regeneration" is an unconscious, amoral, so-called "spiritual" change of the metaphysical essence of the human spirit. This is an example of the influence of Greek philosophy on Christian theology.
To support this notion an appeal is made to Ephesians 2:3, which says that we were "by nature the children of wrath." It is claimed that "nature" (phusis or physis) in this verse means our very essence. If that were true, 2 Peter 1:4 would teach that believers are going to become God, because we are to be "partakers of the divine nature [phusis]." In fact, that is the long-standing doctrine of "Theosis," held and taught by many, even though the passage in 1 Peter is clearly referring to our moral nature (character) through the promises of God (see also 2 Corinthians 6:17 through 7:1).
Therefore, when Ephesians 2:3 says that before salvation we were "the children of wrath," it is referring to our cultural and ethnic background and condition, and resulting habitual sinful practices. God's wrath is upon the sinful lifestyle of sinners, not the very essence of their being.
So then, regeneration is not a change in the essence of our being or any part of it. Regeneration is a moral and relational transformation, a new birth (as Nicodemus should have known; see John 3:10).
The voluntary commitment to the gratification of self gives direction to the whole of life. If we choose to live for self, that will be the direction of all of life. The end will determine the means and generate actions on those means to secure that end. It is like a vast river system. All the rivulets, streams and tributaries flow in one direction, toward the ultimate "end"--the body of water it flows into. Change the ultimate "end," and all is changed.
So it is with regeneration. In regeneration the ultimate "end" one is living for is completely changed, reversed. This brings a total change in all of life. It is like taking a massive river system and turning it completely over so that everything flows in the opposite direction. Such a radical, dramatic moral and relational change is far greater than a supposed change in some mere metaphysical inner "substance."
Conversion and regeneration are essentially the same. Conversion emphasizes the person's act in turning to God from sin. Conversion is the carrying out of repentance. Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3 NKJV). Peter told the crowd on the day of Pentecost, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19 NKJV). The Greek word for "convert" is epistrepho, "turn around."
As conversion emphasizes the act of turning, regeneration emphasizes the resulting change. The Greek word is palingenesis. It means to have a new birth, to make new, to be completely new. It is a new relationship with God, new motives and desires, a new life and lifestyle, delivered and set free. A regenerated person "walks not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16-18; Romans 8:1, 2). This is not brought about by some supposed "spiritual surgery" performed by the Holy Spirit, but by His effective illumining, persuasive, moral influence--and by His indwelling presence and power.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5 KJV).
Paul wrote, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV). This "creation" is not of substance or essence but of relationship and character. Believers are "created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV).
See Romans 8:5-9. "Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (verse 9 NKJV).
Regeneration is a character transformation. It is the "new you" in Christ. A saved person is saved from the inside out. It is said that before we were saved we ran after sin; now we run from it.
". . . that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:21-24 NKJV).
"[You] have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Colossians 3:10 KJV).
We notice in these verses that the "old man" is something that believers are to "put off," and the "new man" is something we are to "put on." That tells us that both the old man and the new man are not some kind of internal "things." If they were, we could not put them off or on. Rather, they are external, something we are to put off and put on. That is, they are the attitudes, lifestyle and behaviors of the kind of persons we were then in contrast to what we are now. It is the outward result of the inner moral and relationship change (relationship with God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit).
In regeneration God rescued us out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). The change is as definite and total as going from night to day, from prison to freedom. Have you been "transferred"?
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1, 2 NKJV).
Sanctification.
To sanctify means to set apart as holy--set apart from sin and set apart for a holy purpose. It is to purify ("decontaminate") and make pure and holy. It contains the ideas of washing, cleansing, purification, separation, consecration, dedication, and service. It has been said that sanctification is the effect salvation has on us. Believers are sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Christ Himself is our sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30). He sanctified us by His blood (Hebrews 13:12).
We are sanctified by the truth. Jesus prayed to the Father for us, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth" (John 17:17 KJV). The truth--God's word--is the "detergent" God uses to clean us up and "clean up our act."
The Holy Spirit is the divine agent in sanctifying us through the truth. The Holy Spirit knows how to apply the word and He does so very effectively.
"God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV).
Believers are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:2 KJV).
It is God's purpose to sanctify us wholly ("squeaky clean") (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
Adoption.
The New Testament Greek word for adoption is huiothesia. It means "the placing of a son." Adoption means sonship--sonship in relationship with God.
Christ came "to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:5, 6 KJV).
God has "predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will" (Ephesians 1:5 NKJV).
"For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:15-17 NKJV).
Believers in Christ are not spiritual "orphans." We are more than spiritual "foster children." The bondage is gone; the fear is gone. We are the sons of God, with all the privileges of that living relationship through Jesus Christ. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself is our Elder Brother, and He is not ashamed to acknowledge us as such (Hebrews 2:11).
By the Holy Spirit--the "Spirit of adoption"--we believers have an inner awareness of our intimate son-Father relationship with God. We address Him as "Abba"--Father!
"Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2 NKJV).
Baptism Into The Body Of Christ.
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13 KJV).
This is not referring to water baptism. It is not referring to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This verse is referring to the act of the Holy Spirit in placing (integrating) the new believer into the body of Christ, the Church. The word "by" (en) in this verse is in the instrumental case; that is, it is something done by the Holy Spirit, as the context clearly indicates.
At salvation, the Holy Spirit is the agent (the one doing the baptizing); the new believer is the subject (the one being baptized), and the body of Christ (the Church) is the element (what the new believer is baptized into. That is 1 Corinthians 12:13. Then, at the subsequent baptism in the Holy Spirit, Christ is the agent, the believer is the subject, and the Holy Spirit Himself is the element. That is Matthew 3:11.
"God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased" (1 Corinthians 12:18 NKJV).
Each and every believer is a part of the universal Church and should find and function in his or her place in it. The Church has too many unattached parts "floating around."
Election.
As we have just read, believers are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:2 KJV).
"Elect" means chosen, "selected out." God did the choosing. He did it before the beginning of time (2 Timothy 1:9). God did it according to His foreknowledge. The apostle Peter does not say that we are "foreknown according to the election of God," but that we are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God." This is in harmony with Romans 8:29, "whom he did foreknew, them he also did predestinate . . . ." (KJV).
Of course, both foreknowledge and predestination occur together in the mind and will of God. One does not precede the other. The point is that God's election is predicated (based) on His foreknowledge. This is not merely God's foreknowledge of what we would do, but foreknowledge of what He could and would do with us consistent with and without violating the principles of moral propriety. God always exercises His sovereignty and His sovereign election according to His perfect wisdom and character.
Paul affirmed that he knew that the Thessalonian believers were elect. "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God" (1 Thessalonians 1:4 KJV).
The Church is elect, chosen of God. The eternal purpose of God resides in the Church, and it will not fail; therefore, the Church will not fail.
Although the Church as a whole is elect, it is up to individual believers to make their "calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10).
Eternal Life.
Eternal life is the gift of God. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
The gift is not detached from the Giver. Eternal life is not a "self-contained package." One cannot come to Christ, accept the gift of eternal life, and then walk away. Jesus made it very clear in John 17:3 that eternal life is a relationship with the Father and with Himself. The elect believer's relationship with the Father and the Son is continuous, eternal. We must abide (remain) in Christ (John 15).
Believers must continue to "sow to the Spirit." "For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life" (Galatians 6:8 NKJV).
Because eternal life is in our relationship with the Father and the Son, it is stable. Eternal life does not come and go because the relationship of the elect believer with the Father and the Son does not come and go. The "eternal life relationship" is sold, stable, eternal. So, stay put.
He "is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24 KJV).
Results.
One of the results of this great salvation is that believers are overcomers in this present life through the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ by His Spirit. "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4 NKJV).
The believer's strength is not in trying but in trusting. Victorious Christian living is more than us living for Christ; it is Christ living in us.
"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4, 5 NKJV).
When a person is born again, he or she is born an overcomer, born victorious! The victory is our faith. It is impossible to fall while we focus our faith on Christ. As we walk in the Spirit we will certainly not (no way!) fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Christ is our security.
Another result of this great salvation is a fruitful, productive life (see Jesus' words in John 15:1-17). Galatians 5:1-23 describes the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. Notice, it is the "fruit" (singular) of the Spirit, not "fruits" of the Spirit. This emphasizes the indivisibility of the whole. Godly character is a unit.
The fruit of the Spirit is contrasted to the works of the flesh. So then, the fruit of the Spirit is not some advanced stage of Christian character growth. The fruit of the Spirit is the essential moral character of the believer as a result of his/her relationship with Christ. The fruit of the Spirit will continue to grow, of course, but it will be there in the believer from the moment of his/her new birth. It will remain so long as he or she remains in Christ.
As we read down the list of the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit, we notice that love stands at the top. Love has been likened to a strong string on which all the other virtues are strung. Without love, it all falls apart. Jesus said that everyone will know that we are His disciples if we have love one for another (John 13:35). And 1 John 3:14 tells us that the way we can tell that we have passed from death to life is that "we love the brethren." The person who does not love his brother remains in death.
Right next to love is joy. Philip the evangelist went to Samaria to preach Christ to them. When the people heard the message, experienced the miracles, and were converted, "there was great joy in the city" (see Acts 8:5-8).
Our cities need joy. Our homes and families need joy. People need joy. Real joy is in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Do you have that living relationship? It is yours as a free gift. Come and receive it now.
What a great salvation!
Remembered Sin
I made a lash of my remembered sins;
I wove it firm and strong, with cruel tip,
And though my quivering flesh shrank from the scourge,
With steady arm I plied the ruthless whip.
For surely I who had betrayed my Lord
must needs endure this sting of memory.
But though my stripes grew sore, there came no peace,
And so I looked again to Calvary.
His tender eyes beneath the crown of thorns
met mine; His sweet voice said, "My child, although
Those oft-remembered sins of thine have been
like crimson, scarlet, they are now like snow.
"My blood, shed here, has washed them all away,
And there remaineth not the least dark spot,
Nor any memory of them, and so
Should you remember sins which God forgot?"
I stood there trembling, bathed in light, though scarce
my tired heart dared to hope. His voice went on,
"Look at thy feet, My child." I looked, and lo,
The whip of my remembered sins was gone!
--Martha Snell Nicholson