JP’s Mind

“What we have here, is a failure to communicate…”

Christians and the bulk of ‘Christianity’ discuss salvation ad nauseum. You must be ’saved’, salvation is by Grace through faith, etc. etc. etc…  What is at issue is the umbrella term ’salvation’ being used to discuss the entirety of a variety of meanings - justification, regeneration, sanctification, glorification, and more.

In my ‘Statement of Faith’ page, I’ve outlined the aspects of salvation, here it is again for discussion:

Salvation

Salvation is the gift of God, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins; that this salvation is the possession of those who by faith accept Christ as their personal Savior. I believe that there is no other way of salvation

In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith, a gift from God, is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.

Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.

Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

Let’s look at the peices and try to determine where the bible addresses the idea of ‘Christian Liberty’ in terms of salvation;

Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

The ‘Christian’ life begins with justification by grace, through faith:

Rom 3:24-25  [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,  (25)  Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.

Rom 4:22-25  That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).  (23)  But [the words], It was credited to him, were written not for his sake alone,  (24)  But [they were written] for our sakes too. [Righteousness, standing acceptable to God] will be granted and credited to us also who believe in (trust in, adhere to, and rely on) God, Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,  (25)  Who was betrayed and put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised to secure our justification (our acquittal), [making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God].  Rom 5:1-2  THEREFORE, SINCE we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).  (2)  Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.

Rom 5:19  For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).

This justification in the eyes of God, is an adoption into the family of God:

Gal 4:4-7  But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law,  (5)  To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God's sons].  (6)  And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father!  (7)  Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but a son; and if a son, then [it follows that you are] an heir by the aid of God, through Christ.

This ‘adoption’ as sons and daughters of the Righteous God is the beginning. This justification is what ’saves’ us from the wrath of God - the wages of our ’sin’:

Rom 5:9  Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.

We must realize however, know in our minds and our hearts, that this righteousness, this justification, is imputed to us, it is given to us freely by God’s grace, that there is nothing we have done, or ever could do, to earn it or deserve it:

Php 3:9  And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith

From the point of justification by grace through faith we move into a state of repentance (I want to point out that faith is not mere ‘belief’, it is something much deeper; it is better defined as a trust in, a clinging to, a reliance on Him). True repentance represents a turning to God, a turning from evil, and an intent to serve God (1Th 1:9  For they themselves volunteer testimony concerning us, telling what an entrance we had among you, and how you turned to God from [your] idols to serve a God Who is alive and true and genuine, ). It involves the intellectual recognition of sin (Rom 3:20  For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character]), an emotional change of feeling for sin committed against a holy and just God (2Co 7:9-10  Yet I am glad now, not because you were pained, but because you were pained into repentance [and so turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did.  (10)  For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death]), and a willful turning away from sin (1Pe 3:11  Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!] .

Upon true repentance we move into regeneration. Regeneration is at its simplest definition: a new birth (Jn. 3:3, Tit. 3:5) that makes us new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) through the work of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3:5-8).

(let me state that regeneration and repentance are not mutually exclusive, or necessarily linear, but are hand-in-hand aspects of ’salvation’, we continually repent and are continually undergoing regeneration.)

This this leads us to the real crux of the Christian life; Sanctification and progressive sanctification, which we will pursue in the next part of ‘The Series’.