Salvation

Throughout Scripture, the term “salvation” is used in many different senses and in many different tenses. Today, R.C. Sproul explains that we are saved, are being saved, and shall be saved as we look forward to our glorification with Christ.

When we examine the meaning of the term salvation, the first thing that we notice about it is that the term salvation is used in a wide variety of ways. I’ve often wondered, for example, when Paul and Silas were freed from the jail in Philippi, when God delivered them by the earthquake, and you recall that situation that the jailer in panic came up to Paul and Silas and said, “Sir, what must I do to be saved?” And Paul responded immediately by saying, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your household will be saved.”

Now, I think I know what Paul meant by salvation when he responded to the jailer, but I’ve wondered what was in the jailer’s mind. Here is a man who is responsible to the government for the guarding and keeping of prisoners. And the law in that day in the provinces was simply this, that if prisoners escaped from the jail, whatever penalty they were awaiting to suffer for their crimes, their jailer had to take in the escapee’s place.

Now it’s certainly possible that what he had in his mind at that moment was a question about his eternal destiny, about his relationship with God. And having heard Paul and Silas singing hymns and knew that they were religious fellows, he then addressed the question to the greatest theologian in history, the Apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Maybe. Or maybe all the Philippian jailer had in his mind was, “How am I going to escape from the consequences of this jail break?” Because the word salvation in the Bible doesn’t always refer to the ultimate question of salvation in terms of being reconciled with God. 

A woman comes to Jesus for healing and beseeches Him to cure her of her disease. And Jesus touches her and heals her and says to her, “Go in peace, your faith has saved you.” They didn’t even talk about reconciliation with God. The woman was looking for relief from pain and sickness. She was trying to be saved from disease and Jesus saved her from the disease. In other words, what I’m saying is that every time the Bible uses the word *salvation* or the verb to save, it doesn’t refer necessarily to what we mean by the doctrine of salvation. 

The Bible says that women will be saved through childbirth. And we all know what Paul teaches the Corinthians when he says that the unbelieving husband will be sanctified by the believing wife and the unbelieving wife will be sanctified by the believing husband. So, what do we find in the New Testament? Three ways of salvation? One is by having personal faith in Christ. The second is by marrying somebody that has faith in Christ. And if you’re a woman there’s a third option. You don’t even have to marry somebody who’s a Christian, just have a baby, and you’re in the kingdom of God. Now, we know that that’s not what the Bible is teaching at that point. 

We’ve seen that the word salvation is used in many senses. The verb to save is also used in many tenses. That’s easy to remember: several senses, several tenses. Now the Greek language has more tenses of verbs than we have in English. And the verb to save is found in the New Testament in every possible sense and in every possible tense of the Greek verb.

The Bible says that we have been saved from the foundation of the world. Here the ultimate past sense is used for salvation. So, in one narrow sense at least, from all eternity in the hidden wisdom of God, we were saved. That’s why Jesus says that there will come a moment when the Father will say, “Come my beloved, inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” 

But the Bible also uses the imperfect tense and says, there’s a sense in which we were being saved, that salvation from the hands of God for His people is something that He’s been working at through all of the pages of history. You were a part of the exodus in the plan of God’s redemption. Our salvation was being prepared for us through the call of Abraham and the life of Isaac and of Jacob. We were being saved.

And then the Bible speaks of salvation in the present sense. There’s a sense in which we are saved. The moment you put your trust in Christ and in Christ alone, that moment God pronounces you just in His sight. He imputes the righteousness of Christ to your account and you are safe in the arms of Jesus. You are saved. 

The Bible also says that we are being saved. So that salvation is not simply a once for all thing in one sense. But my salvation begins when I have belief. And as I grow in grace and as I grow in my sanctification that process of sanctification is also described as a process of salvation. 

And finally beloved, the Bible speaks of the future when we shall be saved. We are saved, we are being saved, we shall be saved as we look forward to our glorification together with Christ and the final consummation of our salvation.