Salvation Study

What do the New Testament letters written by the Apostle Paul say about salvation? What has God done to make salvation possible?

Question: What do the New Testament letters written by the Apostle Paul say about salvation? What has God done to make salvation possible?

Answer: First, let's start with a basic definition of what salvation is:
“The deliverance of man or his soul from the power or penalty of sin.” (The American Heritage Dictionary)

What is sin? Transgression of God's Law. 1st John 3:4 states: “Whosoever commits SIN transgresses also the law: for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW.”

NIV Version of 1st John 3:4
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

What happens to those who sin? “…For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).

The Greek word for salvation is Strong's Concordance number 4991. Thayer's Greek Definitions defines this word as:

Greek: soteria:

• deliverance, preservation, safety, salvation


• deliverance from the molestation of enemies, in an ethical sense, that which concludes to the souls safety or salvation, of Messianic salvation


• salvation as the present possession of all true Christians


• future salvation, the sum of benefits and blessings which the Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God.

To summarize this, we see that salvation is defined in three distinct ways in the scriptures: saved from past sins; forgiveness of present sins and something the Bible says we possess (not actually own right now, but in terms that is a "SURE THING," a SURE DEAL); and ultimately, a future salvation in which we will be given immortal life. Salvation or the "process of being saved", is a day-by-day walk with God. Yes, the sacrifice of the Messiah opened the door to make it possible, but humans are required BY GOD to actively participate in the process.

Additionally, many a book has been written about this topic alone. Scripture speaks about salvation in several places in the New Testament. In brief, "salvation" is the process by which the creator God has instituted to reconcile a sinner to himself. In so doing, we could call this the process of salvation.

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Rom. 3:23)

Many churches in society teach that "Jesus saves us and did it all for us." It is true that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, did die on the wooden stake after living a sinless life in the flesh, so that a sacrifice be made for all of humanities sin (for ALL people from Adam and Eve, to the last baby born in the human family). However, there is MUCH more to the subject that what many understand. God requires OBEDIENCE from us once the sacrifice of Christ's shed blood is applied to us.

First we must repent of our sins, accept Christ's sacrifice for our sins (which including believing and having faith), be baptized by immersion into water, having laying on of hands to receive the holy spirit, and there after, walk and live by every word of scripture, realizing that we will sin, but through daily repentance, Christ’s sacrifice continually washes away our sins as we walk on toward becoming more like God and Christ, as Christ actually lives His perfect life IN us. This entire process is what is correctly called salvation. Christ’s sacrifice was what made salvation possible. His sacrifice IS JUST THE BEGINNING of our salvation process as we must walk the walk, not just “talk the talk.”

…and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him… (Hebrews 5:9)

We must obey God in order to have salvation. Sinners will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

God’s plan of salvation for Man can be summarized as:

First, Christ lived a perfect life and died on the wooden stake for the sins of the world.

So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28)

Second, God made available the Holy Spirit which was sent to the church on the holy day of Pentecost in about 31 AD.

Third: God calls a sinner to repentance to accept Christ's sacrifice for his/her sins.

Fourth, God gives the newly repented human the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a spiritual power within the converted that helps him/her to understand the words of scripture, to see the will of God, to discern right from wrong, and helps the follower of the Messiah to choose right over wrong… and thus, to resist the temptation of sin.

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (Acts 5:32)

In resisting temptations, the individual builds holy, righteous character, which is necessary because in the future, when the time comes for the mortal to become immortal, that perfect character is that which enables them to truly be born as a child of God into the Kingdom of God.

The following are several scriptures that speak specifically about salvation with my comments underneath:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)

Christ’s sacrifice and salvation is available to every man, woman, and child within every culture and race in the human family.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)

This scripture proves that salvation is not a one time thing that Jesus did for us. It says WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING. Fear of what? Not fear as we think of fear, but deep respect and awe for the power of God and His purpose here on Earth. “Working out your own salvation” means that day-by-day we should be walking with God, repenting of sin and continually trying to obey all of God’s law as found throughout the Bible, but can be summarized in the Ten Commandments.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. (Titus 2:11)

God’s grace or favor is what allowed salvation to be offered to humanity in the first place. God created our species with a purpose, to create a family in which we will be part of, and are even now called the Children of God.

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory… that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:16-17, 21)

In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10)

“But he that endures to the end shall be SAVED.” (Matthew 10:22 and 24:13)

The process we go through as we walk with God in our human life not only includes overcoming sin, but we also must endure trials and sufferings. In these, God tests us, teaches us spiritual lessons, and build his character within us. These scriptural promises state that the God is bringing many sons to Glory, and that Christ is the captain of our salvation. The glory spoken of here is when the children of God are BORN into the Kingdom of God at the return of Jesus Christ to Earth at the second coming to rule all nations for a thousand years.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care… (1st Peter 1:10)

The prophets of old greatly desired to understand the things that we now have been given. We should not take our calling lightly!

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” (Rev. 12:10)

“Now have come the salvation” means that those who walked with Christ in their earthly lives will now be given the prize... the fruit of their calling... an immortal body that can never die. Notice, we don’t get our immortal bodies or eternal life until Christ comes back to earth and brings the Kingdom of God. We will be resurrected even as Christ was resurrected from flesh to spirit - from mortal to immortal.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1Cor. 15:53-54)

(Original Version: http://www.biblestudy.org/ - I have made some changes to this, mostly changing to NIV from KJV, maybe some other slight changes as well.)