HE SAVED US
NOT ON THE BASIS OF DEEDS: ouk ek ergon...esosen (3SAAI) hemas ouk ek ergon: (Job 9:20;
15:14;
25:4;
Ps 143:2;
Isa 57:12;
Lu 10:27-29;
Ro 3:20,28;
Ro 4:5;
9:11,16,30;
11:6;
Gal 2:16;
3:16-21;
Ep 2:4,8,9;
2 Ti1:9) :
Tears unavailing,
no merit had I;
Mercy had saved me, or else I must die;
Sin had alarmed me, fearing God's face--
But now I'm a sinner saved by grace. --Gray
We are saved by God's work, not by good works
Not on the basis of deeds -
Spurgeon comments...
This is a very practical Epistle. See
how closely Paul keeps to the doctrines of grace. He is never like Mr.
Legality, he never teaches that we are to be saved by works; but, being
saved by the grace of God alone, and being made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life, we are then, out of gratitude to God, to abound in
everything that is good, and holy, and kind, and after the mind of
Christ
Many of the modern translations
(including the generally more literal NAS) ignore the important original
Greek word order. The first word in Greek is "not"
(absolute negation).
The NKJV has an excellent, more literal rendering:
"Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His
mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Spirit"
The original order stresses that
salvation's foundation is not based on what we've done but what God has
done. This order eliminates any thought of salvation due to personal
merit and magnifies God's sovereign grace. This was a frequent theme in
Paul's epistles as shown in the following Scriptures...
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Romans 4:4 (note) Now to the
one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as
what is due.5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in
Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as
righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing upon
the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works |
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Galatians 2:16
nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have
believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in
Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the
Law shall no flesh be justified. |
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Ephesians 2:8 For by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works,
that no one should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them. (See notes
Ephesians 2:8;
2:9;
2:10) |
As sinners, we did no such works,
nor were we able to perform them. The gospel emphatically denies the
possibility of attaining salvation by human effort or merit.
Saved
(4982) (sozo) has the basic meaning of rescuing one from great
peril. Additional nuances include to protect, keep alive, preserve life,
deliver, heal, be made whole.
Sozo is used 108 times in the NASB
(Click following for all 108 uses in NT:
14x Mt,
13x Mk,
16x Lu,
6x Jn,
13x Acts,
8x Ro,
8x 1Cor,
1x 2Cor,
2x Eph,
1x 1Th,
1x 2Th,
4x 1Ti,
2x 2Ti,
1x Titus,
2x Heb,
5x Js,
2x in 1Pe,
2x Jude) and is translated as:
bring...safely, 1; cured, 1; ensure salvation, 1; get, 1; get well, 2;
made well, 5; made...well, 6; preserved, 1; recover, 1; restore, 1;
save, 36; saved, 50; saves, 1; saving, 1.
Sozo is sometimes
used of physical deliverance from danger of perishing (see
Mt 8:25;
Mt 14:30;
Lu 23:35; Acts
27:20
27:31), physical healing from sickness (Mt 9:21-22;
Mk 5:23,
Acts 4:9), and deliverance
from demonic possession (Lu 8:36).
More often sozo
refers to salvation in a spiritual sense as illustrated in the
following passages: Matthew recorded the angel's conversation with
Joseph declaring
"She (Mary) will bear a Son; and you shall
call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save (sozo) His
people from their sins." (Mt 1:21)
Here sozo is equated with deliverance from sins (guilt and
power of) with Jesus' name being a transliteration of Joshua meaning "Jehovah
is salvation".
Jesus warned His disciples "And you will be hated
by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the
end who will be saved (sozo)." (Mt 10:22,
cf
Mt 24:13) Note it is not one's endurance
(self effort or works) that save them but that one is able to endure
because of the fact that they are saved. Again Jesus was teaching His
disciples about salvation and declared
"it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God." And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished
and said, "Then who can be saved?" (Mt 19:24-25)
Here He equated entrance into the kingdom of God with being saved. In
explaining to His disciples and the multitudes what it meant to come
after Him, denying self, taking up one's cross and following Him, Jesus
declared that
"whoever wishes to save (referring to one's
physical life) his life shall lose it (eternally); but whoever
loses his life for My sake and the gospel's shall save
(spiritually) it (eternally)." (Mk 8:34)
Jesus speaking to a
"woman in the city who was a sinner" (Lu 7:37)
"said to her ""Your sins have been forgiven" (Lu 7:48)
and then
"Your faith has saved (sozo) you; go in peace."
(Lu 7:50).
In these passages Jesus equates sozo with forgiveness of
sins, confession of faith and experiencing peace! In a parable
explaining the role of the Word of God and the character of the "soil"
in salvation, Jesus taught that
"those (people) beside the
road are those who have heard (the seed, the Word, the Gospel);
then the devil comes (Mark's gospel adds "immediately", "at
once") and takes away (present tense - continually) the
word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved."
(Lu 8:12)
Observe that one
cannot be saved unless he believes the word and that merely hearing (and
even assenting to the veracity) of the word does not result in
salvation.
NET Bible notes
add that
"The word of Jesus has
the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something
the devil is very much against."
Jesus addressing the repentant Zaccheus declaring for all to hear
"Today salvation has come to this
house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham (who by faith was
reckoned righteousness
Ge 15:6). For the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save that which was lost (this word speaks of
eternal ruin, destitution and spiritual death)." (Lu 19:9-10)
Jesus taught that
"God did not send the Son into the world to judge
the world, but that the world should be saved through Him." (Jn 3:17)
One is saved (only) by entering "through Christ" as He amplified
later explaining "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
Peter explained to his Jewish audience how one could avoid the
terrifying and dreadful
Day of
the LORD's wrath, quoting
Joel 2:32 and
declaring
"that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be
saved." (Acts 2:21)
Peter later made it very clear that
"there is salvation in no (absolute
negative - no exception clauses) one else; for there is no other name (Jesus) under heaven that has been given among men, by which we
must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
The Philippian jailer summed up spiritual salvation asking Paul and
Silas
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said,
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your
household." (Acts
16:31).
"He saved us" is aorist tense which records the
saving act as a past fact. The "us" here is all who have
accepted salvation in Christ. We now possess salvation "past tense" (see
table below comparing the "three tenses" of salvation), each of us
having been saved at a certain point in time in the when we confessed
"with
(our) mouth Jesus as Lord, and (believed) in (our)
heart that God raised Him from the dead" (see note
Romans 10:9)
God rescued us from great, grave danger,
John recording that
"he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
(Jn 3:18)
and that "he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abides on him." (Jn 3:36).
He delivered us that we might be
"made complete" in Christ
(see note
Colossians 2:10) "for of His fulness we have all received, and grace
upon grace." (Jn 1:16).
Christ lives to protect us
"by the power of God through faith for a
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (see note
1 Peter 1:5)
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THREE
TENSES
OF
SALVATION |
| |
KNOWN
AS |
FREEDOM FROM
SIN'S... |
SCRIPTURES
THAT
SUPPORT |
EXPLANATORY
NOTES |
|
PAST |
JUSTIFICATION
One time event |
PENALTY |
See notes
Titus 3:5
2 Ti 1:9
Eph 2:8
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IN THE PAST: GOD'S UNCHANGEABLE PURPOSE
At the moment
of belief God "delivered us from the domain of darkness, and
transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (see
note
Col 1:12;
1:13)
and justified us, declaring us righteous. At that moment we were cleansed
of guilt, forgiven of sin and the penalty of eternal death, born
again, clothed in Christ's righteousness, freed from condemnation,
eternally safe in Christ independent of whether we "feel" like we
possess these divine benefits or not! |
|
PRESENT |
SANCTIFICATION
Daily event
A process |
POWER |
1Co 1:18
2Co 2:15
See notes
Ro 5:10
Ro 6:6,12,13,
19;
Titus 2:12 |
IN THE PRESENT: GOD'S UNLIMITED POWER
Paul summarizes this process of sanctification charging believers:
"(continually) work out (carry out to the goal, fully
complete) your salvation with fear and trembling (with
self-distrust, tenderness of conscience, taking heed lest you
fall, watchful against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever
might offend God & discredit the name of Christ), (but not in your
own strength) for it is God who is at work in you
(energizing and creating in you the power and desire) both to
will and to work for His good pleasure." (see
note
Php 2:12;
2:13) We are being saved
daily from the power and dominion of sin as we allow the Spirit of
Christ to live His life through us (cf note
Ro 8:13) |
|
FUTURE |
GLORIFICATION
One time event |
PRESENCE
PLEASURE |
See Notes:
Ro 8:23
Romans 5:9
Romans 13:11
Hebrews 9:28
1 Peter 1:5
1Thes 1:10 |
IN THE
FUTURE: GOD'S UNBREAKABLE PROMISE
"Beloved,
now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we
shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him,
because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this
hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." (1Jn 3:2-3) |
RELATIONSHIP
OF
JUSTIFICATION,
SANCTIFICATION & GLORIFICATION |
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GOD'S
RIGHTEOUSNESS
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POINT 1
marks our moment of conversion or regeneration when the Spirit
"circumcises" our heart of stone and gives us a brand new
heart (Ezek 36:26,
27) which is termed
JUSTIFICATION
or
PAST TENSE SALVATION
(see note
Romans 5:1)
(saved from the guilt and penalty of sin). Justification takes
place the moment a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ
(see notes
Romans 10:9;
10:10).
The line from
1
to
2
is not a
process but is a change of position
effected by God -- believers are declared positionally
righteous when they are justified by faith, signifying the
once-for-all reckoning (or imputation) of Christ's perfect
righteousness to the sinful believer's "spiritual account" (see
note
Romans 4:6).
The believer's position or standing before God (POINT
2)
is now complete in Christ and perfect the moment they believe,
because Christ has been made their righteousness (1Cor 1:30;
cf
2Cor 5:21).
At no time in this life or in the life to come will our status
in terms of righteousness be any greater or lesser because "in
Him (we) have been made complete" (see note
Colossians 2:10).
This state is often referred to as positional righteousness.
Justification refers to declared righteousness, sometimes called forensic righteousness, which
has been accomplished once and for all.
Sanctification refers to the lifelong process of growing
in practical righteousness, a continuing process. Generally,
when you hear someone use the term "sanctification", they are
referring to the present process all believers are
experiencing, and this is sometimes referred to as "progressive
sanctification" by the theologians. Note also that
justification is also known as positional
sanctification (indicating that at a point in time, at the
moment of salvation by faith, our position changed from in
Adam to forevermore in Christ). Finally, note that
glorification is also known by the term "perfective
sanctification" (when we see Jesus we will be like Him and
made perfect!). Although, there are a number of terms which
are synonymous, a little study of the chart below should help
clear up any points of confusion.
Past tense salvation results in peace with God,
whereas present tense salvation or sanctification speaks of
the peace of God in one's heart. Peace
with God is the result of one's legal standing before
God (cf
1Cor 1:30),
while the peace of God is the result of the work
of the Holy Spirit (eg see notes
Galatians 5:22;
Romans 8:13).
The first is static and never fluctuates, the second changes.
The first, every Christian has, the second, every Christian
may have, in proportion to the degree they "work out
(their) salvation with fear and trembling" (present
tense salvation) enabled by God's grace and empowered by the
Holy Spirit.
POINT 2 to 3
corresponds to
SANCTIFICATION
or
PRESENT TENSE
SALVATION,
(click
here for more on sanctification) which is an ongoing process occurring during the time period
after we are born again and before we die or are raptured.
During our earthly life as new creations in Christ (2Co 5:17)
now are charged to present ourselves to God as "slaves of righteousness"
(see notes
Ro 6:16,17,18,19
cf
Ro 12:1,
12:2) and experience
progressive release from power, dominion and reign of sin, being set
aside (sanctified) more and more from the world and more and more unto to
Jesus, "a people for His own possession, zealous for good
deeds". (see note
Titus 2:14)
POINT
3
indicates the consummation of our salvation known
as
GLORIFICATION
or
FUTURE
TENSE SALVATION,
at which time we are free once and for all from the presence
and pleasure of sin and made like our Lord (1Jn 3:2-3) |
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The following chart summarizes many of the truths discussed above
(the division of this chart are not meant to imply that the Christian
life is a dull, mechanical matter but in fact is a joyful, dynamic
relationship with the Living God!)
|
THE THREE TENSES
OF SALVATION |
|
JUSTIFICATION |
SANCTIFICATION |
GLORIFICATION |
Past Tense
"I have been saved"
(Ep
2:8;
2:9 - note) |
Present Tense
"I am being saved"
(1Cor 1:18) |
Future Tense
"I will be saved"
(1Th
5:9 - note) |
Past Point
Spiritual Birth |
Present Process
Spiritual Growth |
Future Point
Spiritual Perfection |
Positional
Sanctification |
Progressive
Sanctification |
Prospective
Sanctification |
Redemption of the
Soul Commenced |
Redemption of the
Soul Continued |
Redem |
