The central theme of the Bible is God’s plan to save mankind through Christ. Consider why we need salvation, what God has done to make salvation possible, and what we must do to be saved.
What Do We Need To Be Saved From?: We need to be saved from sin (Matt. 1:21).
1 John 3:4 defines sin as “the transgression of the law.” God has given commands for people in all “dispensations” of time to obey. His commands for us are contained in the Law of Christ. When we commit something God forbids or omit something He requires, we are guilty of sin.
All who have reached the age and are able to know right from wrong have sinned (Rom. 3:23). The only exception to this is Jesus Christ (Heb. 4:15).
The ultimate “wages of sin” is eternal death (Rom. 6:23). This refers to eternal separation from God (cf. 2 Thes. 1:9). It involves spending eternity in hell.
Hell is desribed by our Lord as a place “where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). It is a place of “eternal punishment” (Matt. 25:46), where there is no hope of ever being with God again.
This is what even one sin against God “earns” us. So what we need to be saved from is sin and its consequences.
What Did God Do So We Can Be Saved?: God’s love prompted Him to do something about our hopeless situation.
The second part of Romans 6:23 says “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Though sin earns us eternal death in hell, God offers us eternal life in heaven.
We do not earn or deserve this gift. It is unmerited, and is offered to us through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is deity, and took part in creating the world (John 1:3). But though He is deity, God the Son came to earth and took on human form (Phil. 2:7-8). Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father’s will, and then gave His life so we could be saved from sin. The Father raised Him from the dead, thus providing hope of eternal life to His faithful children (1 Cor. 15).
So through God’s plan, Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit’s revelation of all of this, we have the opportunity to be saved from sin.
What Must We Do To Be Saved?: By fulfilling His role in the plan of salvation, Jesus became the author of eternal salvation. More specifically though, He became the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him (Heb. 5:9). Salvation is offered to everyone, but something is needed on our part to receive this gift.
The New Testament shows what it takes for one to be added to the body of the saved. We must believe Jesus is the Son of God upon hearing that truth (Rom. 10:17). Some on the Day of Pentecost responded to this conviction by asking the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). The apostle replied, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (verse 38). About three thousand souls responded by repenting and being baptized in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sins (verse 41).
This pattern is seen throughout Acts. Those who believed the truth about Jesus and were willing to confess Him (Acts 8:35-39) repented of their sins and were “baptized into Christ” (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), and thus added by the Lord to His church, the body of the saved (Acts 2:47).
While one enters a saved condition upon being “baptized into Christ” as a repentant believer, this does not ensure one can never lose his or her salvation. Christians must faithfully obey God to remain in a saved condition (cf. Gal. 5:4). When one has sinned after becoming a Christian, he or she must repent and seek God’s forgiveness (Acts 8:22).
Much more could be said about God’s plan of salvation, but after looking at these points from Scripture, we can understand that salvation is needed because of sin, God did His part to make salvation possible through the work of His Son, and now we must respond in faithful obedience to Him in order to receive this gift of salvation.
– Michael Hickox