“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
by Pastor Patrick Cho
Chapter 5 of Fundamentals of the Faith dealt with the work of Christ on the cross and what His death accomplished. As sinners before a holy God, we were desperately in need of someone to save us. Because of sin’s effect on our lives, there was nothing we could do to save ourselves. Our lives apart from Christ are lived in abject rebellion against Him. Our hearts are so tainted by sin that it affects everything we say, think, or do. We needed help if we were going to have any hope to stand before a holy God. When Jesus came and died on the cross, He satisfied the righteous demands of God. His death paid in full the penalty we deserved. He died in our place so that we could live. By rising again from the grave, Jesus proved that He accomplished this salvation. The Bible tells us that the curse of sin is death, but Jesus beat death by rising from the grave.
Chapter 6 goes on to explain this salvation more fully. In particular, it looks at salvation from past, present, and future perspectives. From a past perspective, it helps us to understand that God is absolutely sovereign in salvation, choosing who among men would be saved even from eternity past. From a present perspective, the chapter helps us to see that the person who truly is saved is converted into a new person at the point of their salvation. Everything is different for the person who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. From a future perspective, it gives us the evidences of true conversion. How can a person know he or she is a genuine Christian? They can see the radical transformation that took place in their life when God worked in their heart.
One of the more controversial topics in the church today is the sovereignty of God in salvation. Does God choose people to be saved according to His sovereign will, or does He give the choice to people to decide whether they will accept that salvation or not? Some would argue that God wouldn’t be a God of love if He didn’t give all men the freedom to choose Him for themselves. Others argue that God would not truly be God at all if He wasn’t completely sovereign over all things including the salvation of men.
It is most important to consider what the Bible says because the Bible is the Word of God. Scripture teaches that when a person comes to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, it is ultimately the work of God in that person’s heart according to His predetermined plan. In Ephesians 1:3-6, Paul tells the church that it was God’s choice of love to predestine them according to the purpose of His will. While this may seem offensive at first, when you consider our sin condition apart from Christ, it becomes necessary. This is because our sin affects us in a radical way to the core of who we are. Because of our depraved condition, even if we were given the choice to follow God, we wouldn’t. Our minds apart from Christ are dead set against Him. If our hearts are going to be changed to choose Him, He must by necessity do the changing. If God didn’t choose us, we would be lost forever.
But when God saves us, He saves us radically from the core of who we are. He changes us from the inside out. As Ezekiel 36:26 describes, He removes the once dead heart of stone and replaces it with a living, beating heart of flesh. At that point, everything changes for the one who trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Their outlook, direction, and purpose in life takes a 180. Before, everything about their lives was dead set against who God is, but now everything is about knowing God more and more and living for Him more faithfully. The conversion to Christianity involves a complete transformation within a person – from death to life (Eph. 2:1-5), from slavery to freedom (John 8:34-36), from old to new (2 Cor. 5:17). When God saves a sinner, He forgives that individual of the sin that taints their life, but He also transforms that person so that they can fight against the sin that once enslaved them.
This is the best proof of a person’s salvation. As they look at their lives, they can see in a demonstrable way that their life is different because of what God has done to them and in them. They see that they are no longer blind to the truth of the gospel but that God has opened their eyes to see. They experience that they are no longer powerless in the fight against sin, but that God mightily works within them to fight against that sin. They no longer place their hope and trust in the things of this world, but believe that one day their Savior will come again. This gives them all the motivation they need to endure patiently until the end even in spite of severe trials and difficulties.
I’m so thankful that Fundamentals of the Faith devoted an entire chapter to consider the glorious truth of salvation. The gospel is the message that all people need to hear and heed. It is the message that God provides a way of salvation for sinful men. Any true hope we have in this life is only made possible because of the gospel. Our God is a gracious God who is willing and eager by His love to save sinners.