We now come to a word of very large meaning, so large indeed that it may be used in a sense that covers other gospel words such as justification, redemption, reconciliation. An instance of the large meaning which may be attached to it is found in Heb. 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3), where the mighty intervention of God on man’s behalf, which first began to be spoken by the Lord Himself, is spoken of as “so great salvation”. In Acts 13:2626Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. (Acts 13:26), the Apostle Paul speaks of “the word of this salvation”, using the term in just the same broad sense. So also in Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13), the whole deliverance which has reached us in all its parts, is summed up in that one word. The Gospel which announces that mighty deliverance is, “the Gospel of our salvation”. It is with this large meaning that we use the word in the title of this book.
Salvation is largely spoken of in both Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament it is nearly always salvation from enemies that is before us, as Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, stated. In his prophecy he declared that the holy prophets, raised up since the world began, had said that Israel should be saved from their enemies and from the hand of all that hate them. (See Luke 1:70, 7170As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; (Luke 1:70‑71).) The New Testament in its very first chapter speaks of Jesus saving “His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:2121And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)). This at once lifts the whole matter on to a much higher platform.
But, whether in the Old or the New, the very fact that salvation is offered infers that those to whom it is offered are in peril of some sort: they are in danger of perishing. Indeed in 1 Cor. 1:1818For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18), the contrast is drawn between “them that perish”, and “us which are saved”; and the same contrast in almost exactly the same words appears again in 2 Cor. 2:1515For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (2 Corinthians 2:15): Again we read, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). “Lord save us: we perish”, was the cry of the disciples when in the storm on the lake of Galilee. It was only a matter of temporal deliverance, but then it was only in view of temporal danger. Salvation and perishing are clearly directly opposed as to their meaning.
As guilty, we need forgiveness. As under condemnation, we need justification. As having lapsed into bondage, we need redemption. As enemies in our minds by wicked works, utterly alienated from God, we need reconciliation. As lost and perishing, it is salvation we need.
When we considered ourselves as guilty or condemned, we had a perfectly crisp and definite thought before our minds. We saw ourselves arraigned at the bar of God. We stood, as it were, in a criminal court, charged with our sins. The thought was equally definite when we thought of ourselves as being in bondage to sin and Satan, or as being alienated from God. Sin now appeared to us as a taskmaster on the one hand, and as a dark cloud, shutting us out from God, on the other.
But now we have to consider ourselves as lost, as threatened by innumerable dangers both present and future, and consequently in danger of perishing. We cannot deal with this matter in quite the same crisp way. But what we have lost in definiteness we have more than made up in largeness and breadth of thought. God’s salvation is a deliverance from every peril which in the past or present or future could possibly threaten us.
Still, though there is this comprehensiveness of meaning about the word, we must not miss the fact that it always carries the thought of deliverance from peril; and inasmuch as sin lies at the root of every peril that threatens us, the New Testament very appropriately opens with salvation from sins. This salvation is not merely from the penalty of sins, but from the power of sins, and even from the love of them. The Gospel does not offer an exemption from sin’s penalty while leaving us free to continue under the power of sin, or in the enjoyment of sin’s temporary pleasures. Were it to do so, it would be no true salvation, for it would just encourage us to continue in sin: which God forbid!
Yet again and again we find in Scripture that salvation does mean exemption or deliverance from the wrath of God. The Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth... for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven” (Rom. 1:16-1816For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; (Romans 1:16‑18)). A little later in the same epistle we read, “We shall be saved from wrath through Him” (5:9). Again we read, “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:99For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)). And yet again in 2 Thess. 2:12, 1312That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: (2 Thessalonians 2:12‑13), we find that salvation is put in direct contrast with damnation.
The fact is that the Old Testament has as its chief theme the dealings of God with Israel His people in view of the coming of the Messiah. Hence the consequences of sin as regards God’s governmental actings are mainly in view. When Israel sinned, God in His government brought up enemies against them, and when they repented He saved them. The New Testament brings into view the eternal consequences of sin, and the way in which every individual soul of man is subject to God’s judgment and the infliction of wrath from heaven. From that wrath we are saved.
It is in this connection that salvation may be spoken of as a past and completed thing, so that believers can speak of themselves as, “us, which are saved”. The Lord Jesus is our Deliverer from the wrath to come, and we can never be more secure than we are today, before the wrath actually falls. Yet when we speak of ourselves as saved the emphasis seems mainly to lie on the fact that once we were engulfed in every kind of evil and defilement and now we are rescued out of it all. “We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But... He saved us” (Titus 3:3-53For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:3‑5)).
It is very evident however, that though we can speak of God as the One who “hath saved us”, (2 Tim. 1:99Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9)), we are still in a world that is full of seductions, with the treacherous flesh within us, and Satan the astute adversary without. Hence we need salvation daily— salvation of practically a continuous sort. Scripture speaks very plainly of this present salvation. The Lord Jesus is living in heaven as our High Priest to minister it to us. He is able to “save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:2525Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)).
The present salvation, which we need and get as believers, is of course based upon the death of Christ, but it actually reaches us by His priestly activities on our behalf as He lives for us on high. We are being “saved by His life” (Rom. 5:1010For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10)); and inasmuch as He ever lives we shall be saved to the uttermost. We shall be saved completely, to the extremist point of time; to the moment when the last foe has disappeared, and we are beyond the need of any further salvation forever.
In order that we may enjoy this practical, everyday salvation we are granted the instruction which is furnished by the Word of God. The Holy Scriptures are able to make us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:1515And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:15)). The next verse speaks of the Scriptures being profitable not only for teaching but also “for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. This shows the kind of salvation that was in Paul’s mind when he wrote, and emphasizes the great part which the Scriptures play in our daily salvation.
When Paul wrote these words he of course alluded to the Old Testament Scriptures, which Timothy had known from his childhood. They abound with salutary warnings for us, and if we heed them we shall be saved from a thousand snares and dangers. We need hardly add that what Paul asserts of the Old Testament is equally true of the New, which some of us have been privileged to know from our youth.
We might sum up the matter as regards this daily and present salvation by saying it is ours as the result of Christ’s High Priestly intercession, and of our having the Word of God, coupled with the possession of the Holy Spirit, whereby we may understand it and accept its instructions and its warnings.
There remains a further group of Scriptures that clearly speak of salvation as a future thing. It is our hope, and is to be worn “for an helmet” (1 Thess. 5:88But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)). Our hope of salvation will be realized at the second advent of Christ. It is true that He is coming as the Judge, but we do not look for Him in that character. For us it is written, “We look for the Saviour... who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20, 2120For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:20‑21)). Hence it is that we are left here to “look for Him” when He shall “appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation” (Heb. 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)).
This future salvation altogether depends upon the crowning act of mercy which will reach us as the last delivering act of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. It will involve the raising of the dead saints, and the catching away of the living saints before the full storm of God’s righteous wrath breaks on the earth. Then all of us— both dead and living— are to be found forever with Christ in bodies of glory like to His own. This will be the final thing. Salvation as regards ourselves will be absolutely completed.
The Philippians were bidden by Paul, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” How do you reconcile this injunction with what we have had before us?
A long passage leads up to this injunction. If we want to get an idea of the context we have to go back as far as verse 27 of chapter 1. The Philippian believers were threatened by adversaries without and dissension within. The close of chapter 1 alludes to the one. The opening of chapter 2 alludes to the other. The former is easily disposed of: to meet the latter the whole weight of the matchless example of Christ has to be brought in. And then the Apostle himself was no longer present for their help, for he was in a Roman prison.
Under these circumstances they were to show their spiritual mettle and work out their salvation from the threatening dangers: but not as being cast upon their own resources, for “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (verse 13). If the next three verses were fulfilled in them, they would indeed have worked out their salvation.
A present, daily salvation is in question: and our side of the matter is emphasized here. The Divine side must come first— the Priesthood of Christ, the work of God in us by His spirit, the instruction and correction of His Word. But the human side has its importance. We have to diligently avail ourselves of the grace that God provides.
On the day of Pentecost Peter exhorted the anxious enquirers saying, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation;” and those who received his word were baptized. In his first Epistle he again speaks of baptism as saving us. What is this salvation which baptism effects?
It is salvation from “this untoward generation”, as Peter said. Another translation puts it, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Now baptism is, in one word, dissociation. It is only an outward ordinance, yet it has a meaning: and that is its meaning. It is based upon the death and resurrection of Christ, for we are “baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:33Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (Romans 6:3)), and so we are “buried with Him” (Col. 2:1212Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)). Nothing more effectively dissociates us from the present order of things, cutting our links with the world, than death and burial.
The particular point that Peter makes, both in his sermon and his epistle, is that baptism cut the link between the repentant and believing Jews and the unrepentant and unbelieving mass of that nation. That lies upon the surface of Acts 2, and is involved, we believe, in 1 Peter 3:2121The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: (1 Peter 3:21); for his epistle was addressed to believing Jews. He tells them that baptism is a “like figure” unto the waters of the flood that of old cut the link between believing Noah with his house and the world of the ungodly. Noah and his house had been saved “by” or “through” the water from the ruin and death that came in upon the godless earth. Those to whom Peter wrote had been saved through baptism from the godless mass of their nation. They suffered much from the ungodly mass but they were saved from their fate, whether in this life, at the destruction of Jerusalem, or in the world to come.
When a big ship is sinking, it is not enough to let down small boats by ropes and then get into them. Unless the ropes are cut there will be no salvation. Baptism cuts the ropes, and in that sense saves.
“He that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved.” In the light of this is it not premature to speak of ourselves as saved, while we are still on our way to the end?
It certainly would be, if these words of our Lord referred to the way in which sinful men might receive the salvation of their souls. These words however, which occur in the course of His prophetic discourse recorded in Matt. 24, and Mark 13, do not refer to that. The Lord was not addressing sinners but men who already had been brought into relationships with Himself— His disciples. At that moment they were representative of the chosen remnant of Israel, who will be found on earth at the time of the end.
“The end” in this passage is not the end of this or that individual life, but the end of the whole time of persecution, trial and sorrow, which end will be brought about by the second coming of Christ. Endurance is the supreme virtue which is to mark these saints, for their salvation is sure when Christ appears.
That is the primary bearing of this passage; but there are of course many profitable applications of it which we may make for ourselves. However to apply it so as to teach that one cannot be really sure of salvation until one dies is not one of them.
Because salvation is a term of such wide meaning, and includes deliverance from the world, amongst other things. We believe on Christ as risen from the dead with our hearts, and that means our justification before God. Both these however— the faith and the justification— are not observable, for it is not so much a judicial fact as a practical fact— we are really saved from the power of world, flesh, and devil. The very first step towards a salvation of such a sort must be the confession of Christ as Lord, made with the mouth so that men may hear it. A silent confession of Christ in the mind— just thinking it— obviously would not do.
The distinction made in this passage between the faith of the heart leading to righteousness and the confession of the mouth leading to salvation is very striking. It greatly helps to show the special force of salvation.
Is that why Cornelius, God-fearing man though he was, needed Peter to come to him that he might be saved? He was told that Peter “shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.”
No doubt it was so. Until Peter arrived with the Gospel message concerning the risen Christ, Cornelius could not believe in his heart that God had raised Him from the dead. Again, if he had thought of Him in any sense as Lord, it would doubtless have been as Lord of the children of Israel. Peter preached Him in the house of Cornelius as “Lord of all”.
Cornelius had turned from his heathenism to the fear of God very sincerely; but salvation came to him when he believed on and confessed the risen Christ as Lord.
You do not wish us to understand then that salvation is a higher order of Christian blessing into which we may come subsequent to conversion?— so that, for instance, a man might be forgiven yet not saved.
Such a deduction as that from the case of Cornelius would be quite unwarranted. Yet we must not miss the instruction conveyed by the fact that though he had the fear of God, and faith in Him, and even knew certain facts about Christ’s ministry on earth, he was not saved until he heard and believed the glad tidings of the risen Christ and forgiveness in His Name. Then it was that he was delivered clean out of the old-world system which had held him and was brought to God.
Almost all that we have been considering is in connection with what we are saved from:
What are we saved to?
We are saved to every blessing that is ours in Christ. And yet, if we carefully follow Scripture phraseology, salvation is mostly, if not always, connected with what we are delivered from; and if it is a question of what we are brought to the word used is “calling”. God has “saved us, and called us with an holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:99Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9)).
Israel was saved out of Egypt in order that they might enjoy the land to which God called them. We are saved from the world, the flesh, the devil, and the wrath of God which is to come, in order that we may enjoy God’s call to the place of sons and share the coming glory of Christ. The salvation which is ours in Christ is a very mighty and wonderful thing; and thereby we are liberated to enjoy our calling. Yet all those things to which we are called according to the sovereign purpose of God are more wonderful still.
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