Salvation: What part do we play in obtaining it?
First, we need to be sure we understand the meaning of salvation. What exactly are we saved from? Here’s a good starter verse on that—
Romans 8:1a
1a There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ Jesus,… [Emphasis added]
Are you “in Christ Jesus”? How does a person gain that position? In other words, how is a person SAVED from the condemnation of God and the resultant everlasting consequences of that? Here again is a passage I often refer to for answering that question. Here the apostle Paul explains how these Corinthians had entered that status of being saved.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are SAVED, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
Paul is pointing out that if his critics are right and there is no resurrection, there can be no salvation for anyone.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: [Emphasis added]
Are you, too, a part of this? What are you relying on as the basis for gaining salvation? I have found that most people are relying on something they’ve done and/or something they’re in the process of doing. Does that describe your situation? Please know that if it does, you are not saved and Heaven- bound. We are told that salvation is only gained in one way. Note what this well-known verse of Scripture says—
John 14:6
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. [Emphasis added]
Here’s another favorite verse on that subject—
Acts 4:12
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. [Emphasis added]
Yes, the path to Heaven is a narrow one. There really is only one way to get there. Without faith in Christ and what He did to provide it, none of us have any hope of ever entering there.
Dr. H.A. Ironside, the longtime pastor of Chicago’s famous Moody Church, was told by a woman that she expected to get to Heaven by faith plus her good works. She said it is like rowing a boat. She said it takes two oars to row a boat; otherwise, you go around in circles. Dr. Ironside replied, “That’s a good illustration except for one thing: I’m not going to Heaven in a rowboat.” We’re going to Heaven in Christ or we’re not going at all. What you’ll find is that, like this lady was thinking, most people believe getting to Heaven comes by their works. But what does our apostle Paul say about it?
Romans 4:4-5
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. [Emphasis added]
Isn’t that passage clearly telling us our works have nothing to do with it? Could this be stated any plainer? It seems that no matter how many times I post passages like these in my articles there will be people who believe their works contribute to it. What they don’t realize is that the only thing they have to contribute to their salvation is the sin that made it necessary. Their works are totally inadequate to provide something as precious as salvation. What they completely fail to accept is the fact that salvation is a GIFT, not a wage that’s been earned.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. [Emphasis added]
We’re not saved by faith in just anything. It is faith in the ONE work of Jesus Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection that provides salvation. Scripture gives us a clear explanation of what that work of God was.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit [that is to say], that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
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. [Emphasis added]
It is by our faith in what Jesus Christ accomplished for us that provides us with immediate and permanent reconciliation. It is the apostle Paul who clearly explains this to us.
Romans 11:13
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: [Emphasis added]
For more about what Paul means by this statement, please see my articles about it. Here are the names of several—
Paul: Who exactly is this man to us?
Paul: Do we make too much of him?
Gospels: Did Peter and Paul preach the same gospel?
Gospel: Where did the apostle Paul get the one he preached?
When reading the Bible today the church at large tends to put nearly all the emphasis on the “red letter” words of Christ and those of the apostle Peter. But Peter’s last words to us serve to direct us to the writings of the apostle Paul.
2 Peter 3:15-16
15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. [Emphasis added]
It is the words of Christ from His HEAVENLY ministry to us through Paul that contain the expressed means for our salvation today and more, not His earthly ministry when He was here in the flesh.
2 Corinthians 5:16
16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh [speaking of Christ’s earthly ministry]: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. [Emphasis added]
It is Christ’s heavenly ministry, the teaching He gave to the apostle Paul, not Peter, that we’re to focus on today. Religion, with its rules, regulations, obligations, rituals, and observances, provides nothing for us as a true means to salvation. It is only Jesus Christ who saves. It is He who is our Savior. There’s nothing any of us can do to save ourselves or to in any way contribute to it. God accepts only our faith which is to be focused entirely upon God’s work through Christ to save us. Furthermore, our confidence about our salvation is to be only in Christ, not our flesh. In times past, God’s people were often spoken of as “the circumcision,” but today that’s who we are only in the spiritual sense.
Philippians 3:3
3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. [Emphasis added]
Today, our “circumcision” is said to be a spiritual one. When we first put our faith in Christ for salvation, we are united with Christ and fellow believers through what is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13
13 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. [Emphasis added]
It is then that we are united with and identified with Christ through a spiritual circumcision by which we are said to become members of His body.
Colossians 2:11-14
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
It is then that we are permanently identified with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the sole basis for our salvation.
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
For more information about baptism, please see my article about it—
Baptism: What are we to believe about it?
No water at all is involved in our baptism of today. It is a dry but real baptism.
13 And you, being dead [speaking of spiritual death] in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened [made spiritually alive] together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
This phrase reminds us that it was through what Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary that this identification with Christ and salvation was made possible. This next verse explains more about that.
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [Emphasis added]
Please note that the “blotting out” of all that was “against us” happened when Christ was bearing our sins on the cross, not when we put our faith in what He did there. But we must accept what He accomplished there for us TO GET SAVED.
Yes, we as believers today are “the circumcision” not made with hands. God’s people are the ones who’ve expressed their faith in Christ’s work on the cross and subsequent resurrection. We’ve not necessarily been born of Jewish parents as was the case for so many of God’s people in times past. Our ancestry makes no difference at all in our salvation. Both Jews AND Gentiles are now made one in Christ when we first put our faith in Him as our Savior.
Again, 1 Corinthians 12:13
13 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. [Emphasis added]
It is by this which we speak of as regeneration or being born again that we gain this new status.
Titus 3:5
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration [PALINGEMESIA = born again (PALIN = again and GENESIA = born)], and renewing [ANAKAINOO = made new (ANA = again and KAINOO = new)] of the Holy Ghost [PNEUMA = Spirit]; [Emphasis added]
There are those who claim the new birth is not for us today. That claim is totally false as per the Pauline passage I just noted. Regeneration IS the new birth, a spiritual one in which we gain spiritual life.
By the cross of Christ, “we are the circumcision,” because the flesh, our sin nature, was crucified with Christ and cut off before God. We are, therefore, positionally sinless and perfectly righteous by this judicial imputation or crediting that takes place when we gain salvation. There are at least three characteristics of believers today:
- We worship God in the Spirit [John 4:24];
- We rejoice in Jesus Christ for what He’s done for us [1 Corinthians 1:30-31; 15:57]; and
- We have no confidence in our flesh as a means to God’s blessing of salvation and all it provides [Philippians 3:3].
“Religious” people may express confidence in the things they’ve done as expressions of their service to God, but OUR confidence is to be based solely in Christ and what He has provided for us. While those who are “religious” often display confidence because of their achievement of good works, it’s a false confidence. People who’ve not accepted Christ as the sole basis for their salvation are not saved no matter how “religious” they may appear to be.
When the apostle Paul was writing about this it caused him to recall the long list of things he had once relied on as the basis for his own salvation.
Philippians 3:5-7
5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. [Emphasis added]
Most of these things mean little or nothing to us today, but people now have other empty things they’re relying on as the basis for their salvation. All together they represent a futile attempt to provide what God alone provides today by grace through faith in what we call the work of Christ. What foolishness it is to think that any of man’s works, religious or otherwise, can serve as an acceptable substitute for what God provided through the death, burial, and resurrection of His only Son. Paul quite correctly and bluntly speaks of all those things as a pile of “dung” in the King James Version of the Bible.
Philippians 3:7-9
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but DUNG, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: [Emphasis added]
There are other words besides “dung” that you’re probably familiar with today that could be used to more bluntly describe this situation. His point is not only to show how worthless those things are for salvation but how totally repugnant they are to God.
If there ever was anyone who could boast about their strict observance of religious laws, it was Paul. Furthermore, if anyone has ever had a reason to trust in himself and believe that his own religious credentials could earn a righteous standing and merit eternal life, it was Paul. He lays all these credentials out to show how unsatisfactory they all were for such a precious gift as eternal salvation. Here we should all see that apart from Christ and His righteousness we’re all totally bankrupt before God. Paul wrote his letter as if it was a challenge and a showdown to anyone who might think they had exceeded him in his fleshly merits for salvation.
Philippians 3:4
4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I MORE: [Emphasis added]
Conclusion—
What is it that you have confidence in for salvation? Is it Christ and His work alone or are there other things? From what I’ve heard from people through the years, I’m convinced that most churchgoers and others would provide you with a list. All you have to do is ask a simple but important question like this and then just quietly listen to what you hear—
If you were to die and face Jesus Christ today and He asked you why He should let you into Heaven, what would you say?
You would probably be amazed at all that you would hear. So often, it will be a list of what the person thinks of as their credentials for salvation. If you don’t believe this, just politely ask this question of someone. What so many don’t realize is that their religious works or their performance in this life has nothing to do with it. If they speak of anything or any combination of things apart from Christ dying for their sins and being raised from the grave for their salvation, they are not saved. Again, if that’s all they’ve ever believed about this, they are not Heaven-bound.
1 Corinthians 1:17-18
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. [Emphasis added]
The only part we play in the attainment of salvation is our non-meritorious faith in what God has provided through the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. If your confidence about your salvation has not been in Him alone, I hope you’ll make that change and be saved right now.
