Salvation Summaries

In my last blog entry, Titus – Part 1 of 3, I commented on one salvation-related question that Titus answers.  The question was, “Can you know whether another person is saved?” and the answer was “yes.”

In this blog entry, I will address two questions, and one could well be the single most important question people have about salvation.

Salvation

How is a person saved (and thus, who goes to heaven)?

If I were to ask you whether you would go to heaven when you died, what would you say?

I believe most people would say that they think they will go to heaven…but don’t know for sure…and that it would be because of how good they are.  I held this same view until I became a Christian in college and learned what the Bible has to say about who goes to heaven and who does not.

So, what does the book of Titus have to say about who goes to heaven, or more specifically, how a  person is saved?  The answer is in Titus 3:5.

Below I have shown Titus 3:5, plus a few other verses for context, in two versions of the Bible: the NIV (New International Version) and the NLT (New Living Translation).

• Titus 3:4-6  4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,  6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, (NIV)

• Titus 3:4-6   4 But then God our Savior showed us his kindness and love.  5 He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.  6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did.  (NLT)

As you can clearly see from reading verse 5, a person is saved not because of how good a person is, or the good (righteous) things they have done, but rather by God’s mercy, kindness and love.  Let that sink in for a moment.  This verse means that citizenship in heaven is not based upon the good things you have done. In fact, it’s not based upon you at all.  Citizenship in heaven is based upon a spiritual transaction that God performs. He is the one who forgives you from your sin, and He is the one who gives you the Holy Spirit.  These are things you cannot do to yourself, for yourself, or for anyone else.

“But how can that be?  Surely, it must include the good things I do.”  One of the best responses I have heard – I believe it was from Josh McDowell – as to why salvation cannot be based upon how good a person is or the good things they do, is this: if salvation can be earned by doing good things, there would have been no reason for Jesus to come to this earth and be crucified.  But because Jesus did, salvation has to be given in another way, and according to Titus, as well as other books in the Bible, it is given by God.  

Now, some of you may rightly ask, “but what about faith, or belief in Jesus?  Don’t I have to do this?”  Yes, you do.  Verse 5 in the NIV mentions rebirth, which is the same as being born again.  A person is born again from hearing and understanding the Word (gospel message of salvation), and faith comes from hearing and understanding the Word.  Thus, faith is related to being born again, and, belief is also related to faith. Faith is not a good deed though.

Note: as you will see from reading other posts about salvation verses in the Bible, most verses do not portray the complete picture of how one is saved unless you combine them together.  Some say a person needs to believe; others to repent; others must “come to Jesus,” etc.  Because of this, I’m going through each NT book in the Bible to identify all verses that relate to salvation in order to complete the puzzle of verses so that the picture is clear.  You will learn that a number of these verses with what appears to be different requirements for a person to become saved are all saying essentially the same thing.

What three things happen to a person when that person becomes saved?   

We can use the same set of verses from above to answer this question.  I decided to use the NLT rather than the NIV.  The NLT, which may not be quite as accurate as the NIV, words the verse in a way that most lay people would understand.

Titus 3:4-7   4 But then God our Savior showed us his kindness and love.  5 He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.  6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did.  7 He declared us not guilty because of his great kindness…(NLT)

So, what are the three things that take place when a person is saved?  The answer is below.

1) their sins are “washed away” (or forgiven), verse 5

2) they receive the Holy Spirit, verse 6, and

3) they are declared “not guilty” (the technical term for this is justification), verse 7.

As you can see, all of this is from God.  Or stated another way, a person cannot wash away their own sins, they cannot receive the Holy Spirit on their own power, and they cannot declare themselves not guilty.  All of these spiritual “transactions” are done by God.

Now, maybe you can see why being saved is such a big deal, and why it often produces a noticeable change in a person.  For example, having your sins forgiven – sins which would have otherwise kept you out of heaven – is a big deal.  It is a tremendous burden that is lifted off of your shoulders, and thrown into the sea.

Receiving the Holy Spirit is another big deal. The Holy Spirit is God, and He now takes part in the life of a believer, showing the believer what is true, and things that unbelievers cannot “see.”

And being declared righteous, or right with God, is big too.  This is something we could never do on our own; it can only be done when Jesus does it for us (this is somewhat complicated to understand, so we’ll address it in more detail later).

So, my dear friend, being saved, or calling yourself a Christian, is not to be taken lightly. You either are, or you are not.  You have either had a spiritual transaction take place within you, by God Himself, or you have not.  

If you are not sure whether you are a Christian, then please – read the beginning of this blog entry again, and keep reading other blog entries I write, for I will be covering this subject in great detail through the course of my review of salvation.  

In my third and final blog entry on the book of Titus, I’ll answer two more questions that relate to salvation. One is whether a person can have assurance of eternal life, and the other is whether there is a relationship between being a believer and performing good deeds.