What do Baptists Believe about Salvation?

"I was saved when..."

"I was born again..."

"I made Jesus my Lord and Savior..."

"I accepted Jesus into my heart..."

How many of us have made statements like the above? I have made them several times, and to an extent, Lady Hamlet was correct when she observed, "Words, words, words!" A lot of times we talk about our salvation without actually knowing what it is. As a matter of fact, I contend today that our salvation is one of the greatest things we as believers don't understand even though we talk about it the most.

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

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Redemption is "to get or win back." When we sing that we have been "purchased by his blood" or "redeemed by the blood of the Lamb," we are saying that the blood of Christ has purchased us back, he has won us. A question remains: why were we gone in the first place? The answer is, simply, we were enslaved to sin (see "What do Baptists Beleive about Man?").

Col 1:13-14, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God has always been in the business of redemption. While God was speaking of the Fall of man, he already pointed to how he would conquer the Fall through Eve's progeny, Christ (Gen. 3:15). By scholars, this verse is often called the protoevangelion--"the first good news." Since the fall, God has always been in the business of buying back his people from the circumstances they find themselves in. We can see this in Adam and Eve, the sons of Jacob, the Isrealites in Egypt, the nation of Israel in exile. The final stamp of redemption occurs when Gen. 3:15 is played out, and Christ's blood redeems man (Eph 1:7, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace").

The whole man has been redeemed. We might quickly look over this sentence and say, "Duh! Christ isn't going to just buy back part of our soul or body!" However, Catholicsbelieve that Christ only redeemed men and the sin they inherited from Adam--they believe that Christ does not save them from the sins they continue to commit. Anyone may accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Christ saves man, buying him back from sin's chains which lead to damnation.

Regeneration

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

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 is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

It hurts to build muscle. The reason it hurts so much after you work out after not for a long time is because when you work your muscles, they break down so when they build up they build up stronger than before. Muscles regenerate in order to get stronger. Similarly, when we are saved, our soul is regenerated; it is no longer dead, but built up and made alive by the Holy Spirit (John 1:12-13, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God").

When a person becomes saved, the first thing that happens is regeneration. We would say our hearts are changed and made alive--reborn (John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit").

Every person who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit recognizes his sin, repents, and places faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. When a new believer repents of sin, he makes a u-turn in the way he lives. Faith means that a person places all he is in the idea that Jesus is Lord of all creation, the leader of that person's life, and that only He can save a person. A person cannot have faith in Christ without repenting of sin. Similarly, a person cannot be saved if he repents of sin but does not have faith in Christ as Savior and Lord. There are lots of people who believe in order to become a Christian, one only needs faith in Christ. However, true salvation only occurs when there is such conviction of sin that a person repents from the way he was living and turns to live completely for Christ.

Justification

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

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.

There are several things that come to mind when you think "justification." One may be "justice," another "justify." If you have ever seen the scales of justice, they symbolize that whatever action was rendered on one side, then something must happen for the other to be balanced. Justice is served whenever punishment fits the crime. To justify something means to prove that it is right.

John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Justification occurs when God proves that we are in right standing with Him. When we are justified, we our trespasses have been forgiven. Only God justifies man. Man can never earn right standing with God except by placing faith in Christ, who was perfectly right with God (Heb 5:8-9, "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation"). When we place faith in Christ, God credits us with what Christ did. This does not mean that we are as good as Christ, or we ever will be on earth, but it does mean that God looks to us and declares that we are in good standing with Him. Justification is not something that happens internally like regeneration, but it happens externally.

Rom 3:21-26, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Sanctification

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

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.

When something is sanctified, that means that it is set apart for special use. Throughout new life, believers are sanctified to be like Christ. The process of becoming like Christ is sanctification. This begins when one becomes a Christian and does not end until we are united with Christ in the death or the new creation (whichever comes first).

A Christian is sanctified through the power of the Holy Spirit. While God instigates sanctification, man responds to God by growing in Him. Phil. 2:12-13, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Glorification

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

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

Glorification occurs when we are in the new creation with Jesus, when we are in the image of God himself (Rom. 8:29-30, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.").

Salvation is Inclusive

We believe that salvation is only for those who have placed faith in Christ (Acts 4:12, "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved"). Therefore, we do not believe that any person can go to heaven unless they profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This means that all people who have never heard the name of Jesus will never have salvation, including the tribesman in the middle of South America who has never even heard the name of Jesus. This idea is one of the distinct beliefs of Baptists, and this is what drives us to tell others about Christ. No matter how good a person is, how authentic their belief in God (or a god), no person will have salvation if he or she has not responded to Christ in faith and repentance.

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Discussion:

• What is the difference between regeneration, justification, and sanctification?
• What are some other ways you can explain how you are saved--without using churchy words like "saved" or "born again'?
• Why would God not save a person who has not even been exposed to Jesus before? Do you think this is right?

the board.