THE CONDITION OF SALVATION
The actual topic is: exactly what must one do to be saved? This
subject will be discussed in two major categories. First the
condition of salvation will be discussed positively. Then the various
false additions to salvation added by various groups throughout church
history will be investigated.
I. The Correct Condition for Salvation
According to the Bible, what is it that a person must do to be
saved? Concerning the positive condition of salvation, five points
will be made.
First, according to Scripture, salvation is solely on faith in
Jesus Christ. Salvation is by grace through faith and that is the
only condition for salvation. This is the starting point from which
one must tackle this question.
The second thing to point out is that in over two hundred cases
where there is a condition given for salvation, faith or belief is
stated to be the only condition. This is important to remember.
There are over two hundred places in the New Testament where the
condition for salvation is spelled out and in over two hundred of
these cases faith or belief is given as the one and only condition.
If this is true, and if there are problem passages, one should not
interpret the two hundred clear passages by the few minor problem
ones. One should try to interpret the few problem passages by the two
hundred clear passages. These passages will be dealt with under false
additions to salvation.
One is John 1:12:
"But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become
children of God, even to them that believe on his name:"
The verse states that the ones who became the children of God are
those who received Him. What does it mean to receive Christ? The
second part of the verse explains that to receive Christ means to
believe on His name, that He really is the Jewish Messiah. By simply
believing, he receives salvation. That is the way one becomes a child
of God and believing is the only condition mentioned here.
Another example is Acts 16:30-31;
"...and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be
saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be
saved, thou and thy house."
In verse 30 the question is asked, "What exactly must I do to be
saved?" When the apostle answers in verse 31, the only condition is
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If they believe on the Lord
Jesus, then they receive salvation.
These are just two of over two hundred examples where a condition
is given for salvation and the only condition spelled out is that of
faith and belief. Because in the majority of cases that is the only
condition given, one must be careful before he assumes that the Bible
teaches that there are additional conditions to salvation.
The third point concerning the condition for salvation is that
this faith must be placed in Christ as our substitute for and a savior
from sin. Salvation is not merely believing that Jesus existed. Some
of the most pagan atheists believe that a man named Jesus of Nazareth
existed. Merely believing that Jesus existed, merely believing that
He died on the cross, merely believing that he rose again from the
dead does not save anyone. Rather, the believer's faith must be
placed in Christ as his substitute for and a savior from sin. In
other words, one needs to trust Christ for one's salvation. One must
believe that He has accomplished the salvation work on one's behalf.
To be saved means to believe not just that He died, but that He died
for our sins. If one believes that He died for one's sins, that
presupposes that one has confessed that one is a sinner. If He died
for one's sins, obviously it means that one is a sinner. So one must
believe that He died for one's sins, as one's substitute, was buried
and rose again and therefore has provided salvation and one trusts Him
for his salvation. This is the condition of salvation. Faith must be
placed in Christ as one's substitute for and as savior from sin.
The fourth thing about the correct condition for salvation is to
discuss the three main Greek words which are used. The first main
Greek word used is pistis. It is used 243 times in the New Testament
and it always has the meaning of faith with only four exceptions: Acts
17:31 where it has the meaning of "assurance"; II Thessalonians 2:13
where it is translated as "belief"; Titus 2:10 where it has the
meaning of "fidelity"; Hebrews 10:39 where it is translated "belief"
although some translations have "faith." Except for these four
occasions the word always has the meaning of faith.
The second key Greek word is pisteuo which is used a total of 246
times in the Greek New Testament and always has the meaning of "to
believe" except for nine times: once it is translated as "believer"
(Acts 5:14); eight times it is translated as either "commitment" or
"entrusted" (Luke 16:11; John 2:24; Romans 3:2; I Corinthians 9:17;
Galatians 2:7; I Thessalonians 1:3; I Timothy 1:11; I Thessalonians
2:4).
The third main Greek word is peitho which means "to cause belief"
in a thing. This word is used fifty times in the Greek New Testament
it is translated in nine different ways. It is translated, as
"persuade" 22 times; as "trust" ten times; as "confidence" nine times;
as "obey" seven times; as "believed" three times; as "assure" one
time; as "yield" once; as "made free" once; and as "access" once. But
in spite of these nine different translations, the root meaning of the
word remains the same: "to cause belief in a thing."
By combining these three Greek words together, one can determine
clearly as to what the condition of salvation is in reference to
faith. First, it means to believe. Secondly, it means to be
persuaded of. Thirdly, it means to place confidence in. Fourthly, it
means to trust in the sense of relying upon. These are the four
facets of what faith is about when one places faith in Jesus Christ.
The fifth thing about the correct condition for salvation is to
discuss the five senses in which faith is used. First, it is used as
conviction that something is true. Secondly, faith is used as trust.
Thirdly, faith is used as persuaded and it is stronger than mere
opinion though it is weaker than foreknowledge. Fourth, faith is used
as faith based upon the facts of knowledge (Romans 10:14). Fifth,
faith must have an object. The object of faith is God while the
content of faith is the death of Christ for one's sins, His burial and
resurrection.
To conclude the first part of this study on the condition of
salvation: the only condition is believing that Christ died for one's
sins, was buried and rose again, and trusting Him for one's salvation.
II. False Additions to Salvation
A. Repentance
Some groups claim that not only does one have to believe on
Christ and trust Him for one's salvation, one must also repent.
Usually what they mean by "repentance" is that they must truly be
sorry for their sins.
First, the actual meaning of "repentance" is simply "to change
one's mind." That is all biblical repentance is. Repentance does not
mean "to feel sorry for one's sins." The Greek word for repentance
simply means "to change one's mind." The second thing about repentance
is that when it is used as a synonym for "believe" then yes it is a
condition for salvation. For example, one has to change one's mind
about who Christ is in order to be saved. If repentance is meant as a
synonym for "belief" and "faith" then yes, repentance is necessary for
salvation. A third point is that it becomes a false addition when the
word "repentance" is taken to mean "sorrow." If by "repentance" one
means "sorrow" and therefore one has to feel sorry for his sins to be
saved then it is a false addition to salvation. Fourthly, the reason
for this is that if repentance in the sense of being sorry for one's
sins is necessary, then salvation becomes two things. First,
salvation is now on the basis of works, and secondly, salvation is
then based upon feeling and not upon the facts and promises of
scripture. The fifth thing about repentance is that in salvation,
repentance is never a separate act from faith or believing.
Belief as a condition to salvation is given about two hundred
times, repentance as a synonym for believing is given thirty-five
times. Repentance is a synonym for believing and only as a synonym
for believing is it a condition for salvation. But if one redefines
repentance as being sorry for one's sins, then it is a false addition.
The New Testament uses the word "repentance" four different ways.
First, it is used as a synonym for believing and means nothing
different than believing in Jesus Christ. One changes his mind and
believes on Him (Luke 24:47; Acts 17:30; Romans 2:4; II Timothy 2:25;
II Peter 3:9).
A second way that repentance is used is to change one's mind
about anything. Again, it never carries the sense of feeling sorry.
Sorrow may accompany repentance, but the word itself does not mean
"sorrow." It simply means to change one's mind (Acts 8:22; 11:18;
20:21; 26:20; Hebrews 6:1,6; Hebrews 12:17; Revelation 9:20).
A third way the word "repentance" is used is in reference to
Israel when speaking of Israel's need to repent, that is, Israel's
need to change its mind about Jesus. Here again, it merely means a
change of mind concerning who Christ is (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31).
A fourth way the word "repentance" is used is as a reference to
John's baptism which was called a "baptism of repentance." In that
sense it is simply a part of God's covenantal relationship with Israel
(Acts 13:24; 19:4).
So insofar as repentance is concerned there two things to note.
If repentance is used merely as a synonym for believing in Christ,
which is the way the Bible uses it, only in that sense is it truly a
condition for salvation. But if, as some groups use it, repentance
means to feel sorry for one's sins, then it indeed becomes a false
addition to salvation.
B. Confession of Christ
The second false addition to salvation is known as "confession of
Christ." Where this becomes a false addition is the teaching in some
circles that there must be a public confession of Christ for one's
salvation. This teaching is based upon two passages.
First is Matthew 10:32:
"Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I
also confess before my Father who is in heaven."
The second passage is Romans 10:9-10:
"...because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord,
and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Based upon these two passages of Scripture, some groups have made a
false addition and teach that there must be a public verbal confession
for a person to be saved.
The answer is that in both of these passages confession is not a
separate act from faith. In the case of Matthew 10:32 one is dealing
with the context of Israel having rejected the Messiah and those
individual Jews who want salvation must confess Christ, meaning that
they must confess that Jesus is the Messiah. But in this case the
word "confession" is simply part of the act of faith. It is not a
separate act in any way.
As far as the Romans 10:9-10 passage is concerned, Paul uses a
Hebraic poetical form known as inversion. Paul interchanges the terms
"confession" and "believing" to show that both these terms are used
synonymously. For example, in verse nine, he first spoke of
confession (with thy mouth the Lord Jesus) and then secondly to
believe (in the heart that God raised him from the dead). So in verse
nine there was confession followed by believing. Then in verse ten he
reversed the terms. In verse ten he first spoke of believing, (for
with the heart man believes unto righteousness) then he spoke of
confession (with the mouth confession is made unto salvation).
The inversion of confession and believing and the
interchangeableness of the two terms shows that he used them
synonymously and confession in this verse equals calling upon the name
of the Lord and calling upon the name of the Lord is simply exercising
faith in Him. Confession is not a separate act from faith.
There are three problems with this false addition of confession
for salvation. First, confession is omitted in all passages that
speak of a condition of salvation with these two exceptions. In the
other two hundred plus cases where the condition is given for
salvation confession is not one of them. Even in these two cases
confession is only used synonymously with believing in Christ.
The second problem is that if a public confession is necessary
for salvation then salvation is on the basis of works. For salvation
is based upon works if a person must actually publicly confess Christ.
Third, the circumstances for many people who are saved preclude a
public confession. Many people are saved by merely reading a gospel
tract, or reading a New Testament, and they believe on Jesus Christ
and they indeed experience salvation without having any opportunity to
make a public confession right then and there.
A public confession before people is not part of salvation and
those who teach it make it a false addition to the condition for
salvation.
C. Confession of Sin
The third false addition is confession of sin. The verse that is
used I John 1:9:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
People sometimes use this verse and make it a condition of salvation,
that one must confess his sins before he can be saved.
First of all, I John 1:9 is not a salvation verse. In fact, the
writer is writing to those who have already been saved, who already
are believers. Notice the pronouns, "if we confess our sins." "We"
and "our" includes the apostle John, and his readers, and both John
and his readers were already saved. This is not a salvation verse, it
is simply a verse that deals with the sins that people who already are
believers commit.
If the confession of sin is a necessary addition to the condition
of salvation, how many people remember every sin they commit? It
would literally be impossible to remember every sin one has committed.
If this condition were true it would mean that unless one has
confessed every single sin one has committed then one cannot be saved.
Since one cannot then one would have no hope of salvation.
Confession of sin is a third false addition to the condition of
salvation.
D. Implore God for Salvation
The fourth false addition is that some teach that one must
implore God to save him or he will not be saved. The picture is that
God is somewhat reluctant to give one salvation and therefore one has
to implore Him before one gets it.
Two main passages are used to teach this. First is Isaiah 55:6:
"Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he
is near:"
The admonition to "seek ye Jehovah" is interpreted as imploring God to
save them. They ignore the fact that while the admonition is to seek
the Lord, yet Romans 3:11 teaches that no one seeks God on his own.
Since no one on his own will ever seek God anyway, it would mean no
one would be saved if this was a condition of salvation.
Another passage used is Luke 18:13 which speaks of praying for
salvation. What is ignored is that this passage does not actually say
that one must implore God to be saved, nor does it teach that one must
seek God and seek God and seek God until one finds Him. The passage
is dealing with the Christian's prayer life and not with salvation.
Luke 19:10 states that it is Christ who actually does the seeking.
The problem is that in the two hundred plus places where the
condition for salvation is discussed this is not a condition for
salvation. It is never written that one has to implore, seek, and
pray for God to save one before He will. Furthermore, this is
salvation by works. Salvation is emphasized as being by grace through
faith. One simply receives the salvation God offers by faith but one
does not have to implore God to save him, He is more than ready to do
so already. If one must implore God first, then salvation is by
works.
E. Surrender to the Lordship of Christ
The fifth false addition to salvation is that before one can be
saved one must surrender to the Lordship of Christ. One must not only
accept Christ as one's Savior or Messiah, one must accept Him as the
Lord of our life before one can actually ever be saved.
The passages used for this argument are passages like Romans
12:1-2. However this passage is not speaking of a condition of
salvation, but is speaking of something that follows salvation. In
fact, Romans 12:1-2 is a good argument against what is called Lordship
salvation. Paul writes to those who already have been saved. In
light of their salvation Paul implores them to make Christ the Lord of
their lives by the dedication of their bodies. It is only after one
becomes a believer that one needs to make Christ the Lord of his life.
This is not a condition of salvation, it is a condition of
discipleship.
Another passage used is Romans 10:9 which speaks of confessing
Jesus as Lord. In this context he is not dealing with the fact that
Christ must become the Lord of every aspect of one's life. The word
"Lord" is used in the sense of the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Only
God can save and the aspect of the Lordship of Jesus that one needs to
be saved is His salvation Lordship. One does not have to accept Him
as the Lord of one's life to be saved, but He needs to be the Lord to
be able to save. Christ must be Lord in the sense of Jehovah to be a
qualified savior. Romans 10:9 does not teach that one must make
Christ the Lord of one's life to be saved, it teaches that Christ must
be Lord in order to be the Savior. What one has to do to be saved is
merely to believe that He died for one's sins, was buried, and rose
again. One must trust Him for one's salvation, but in order for Him
to save one, He must be Lord. On the contrary, He becomes the Lord of
our lives sometime after salvation when the believer dedicates himself
to Him for His permanent use; when one dedicates his body to Christ.
When the Bible talks about Christ being Lord to save, it does not
mean His personal Lordship of the believer's lives. For example, Acts
10:14 states:
"But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything
that is common and unclean."
In this verse Peter called Jesus "Lord" and yet he said to the Lord,
"not so, Lord." He proceeded to rebuke the Lord. In fact, one can
accept the Lordship of Christ, like Peter did, and yet immediately act
contrary to something that this Lord commands. Acts 19:8-19 will bear
out the same point.
So the fifth false addition, surrender to the Lordship of Christ,
or Lordship salvation, is not biblically valid.
F. Baptism
Is baptism necessary for salvation? Since this subject was
discussed in detail in a previous manuscript, there will only be a
brief three part comment on the passages that people use to teach
baptism as necessary for salvation.
The first one is Mark 16:15-16. But this passage does not say
that if one is not baptized one will be lost, nor does it say that if
one believes but is not baptized one will be lost. The negative is
not stated. It simply states to believe and be baptized because in
those days baptism immediately followed salvation. Furthermore, this
verse is not even found in the best and oldest Greek manuscripts of
the Gospel of Mark.
The second passage used is Acts 2:38 which states repent and be
baptized for the remission of sins. The Greek word here is eis which
can also mean "because of" or "on account of" as is its meaning in
Matthew 12:41. Acts 2:38 simply states repent and be baptized on the
basis of the remission of sins; because you have been saved, therefore
you should be baptized.
The last passage used is Acts 22:16 which in the Greek text
contains two imperatives and two participles and literally reads
"arise, having been baptized, wash away your sins having called upon
the name of the Lord." What this verse is saying is that baptism
follows the arising just as the forgiveness of sins follows the
calling upon the name of the Lord. The two parts of the verse must be
kept distinct. Just as after calling upon the name of the Lord one is
then saved, having been saved one should arise and be baptized.
Baptism is a false addition to salvation.
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The preceding is a manuscript of a radio broadcast of Arnold G.
Fruchtenbaum, director of Ariel Ministries. The text is copyrighted
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