Salvation Summaries

In my last blog post, I addressed the question of what role a person has in one’s salvation.  In this blog, I will use 1 Peter to answer the questions of how is a person born again, and how should a Christian live.

How is a person born again?

I would guess that most people have heard the phrase ” born again,” but may not know what it means.   I would also guess that most who hear it, and who are not born again, may be uncomfortable with it, and as such may not want to discuss it.  For those of you who are like this, I would kindly ask that you read what I have to say about it, and then decide whether it’s something you want to learn more about.

Being born again is a major event that sets a Christian apart from all other religious, and non-religious, people. As I’ve commented in prior blogs, and as we will learn from studying other books in the Bible, being born again is something that God does.  In it, He gives you a new life… spiritual life…and wipes your sins away.  You become a “new creation” and a member of God’s family.  You become assured of receiving eternal life, or going to heaven when you die. Becoming born again is a big deal, and it changes a person.  If you have not experienced a change in your life from not wanting or caring about Christ, to having a desire to learn about Him and obey Him, then you need to ask yourself whether you’ve been born again.

The Bible is clear that without being born again, a person will not go to heaven (John 3). I know this may sound harsh, and it’s certainly not politically correct to say it, for as the media  – and the world at large – would have you believe, all religions are the same, with none any better than another.  But if you think about this for a minute, you realize that this view itself cannot be true.  Ravi Zacharias makes this clear in his book, Jesus Among Other Gods.  In it he says that each religion believes it to be the one true religion, yet each religion has a number of different beliefs from other religions.  For example, Islam believes that Jesus was a prophet, but not the Son of God, and that Jesus did not rise from the dead.  Christians, on the other hand, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that God did raise him from the dead.  As you can see, both of these religions cannot be true with respect to their beliefs regarding Jesus; one of them has to be in error.  Jesus is either the Son of God, or He is not; He was either raised from the dead, or He was not.  

The above example also shows the fallacy that there are many roads that lead to heaven. Christians believe there is only one way to heaven (through faith in Jesus) and it is not by doing good deeds; Muslims believe you get there in a different way (by having good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, and not by faith in Jesus).  Both “roads” cannot be true.   

There is some disagreement among Christians though, on exactly how one is born again.  Some believe that water baptism is involved, and base this upon a specific verse in John.  For now, our focus is only on what 1 Peter has to say about being born again, and you can find this in the verses below.

• 1 Peter 1:3-5 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade– kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (NIV)

• 1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (NIV)

These verses clearly show that the people to whom Peter wrote have been born again (1 Peter 1:23).  Note that they were not in process of being born again; they had been born again – it was a past and completed event.

Also, the verses show that God is the one who caused them to be born again; He is the One who gave them this “new birth (1 Peter 1:3).

And last, the verses tell us how the Christians were born again – it was “through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).  Now, we are not told how the word of God, or the Bible, does this, but I assume we will know more about it once other books are reviewed.  For now, I will speculate that it has to do with faith.  As we will learn from studying Romans, faith comes from “hearing the word,” (Romans 10:17) and faith is required for a person to be saved (and a person who is born again is saved).

How are Christians to live? 

How would you like to live under a microscope?  To some extent, Christians do.  Let me give you a real life example.

Recently, when our youngest son, Aaron, who attends a Christian school, was playing in a basketball game against a private (non Christian) school, one of the opposing team’s players got hurt and was lying down on the court. Aaron began to go over to that person to help him up, but then realized that the injury might be serious, and the player may not want, or be able, to get up right away.  Upon walking away from that player, another player on the opposing team made a sarcastic comment to Aaron that went something like this: “Aren’t you going to help him?  I thought you guys were Christians.”  Of course, this player had made no effort to help his own teammate.

1 Peter and other books of the Bible are clear that when a person becomes a Christian, he or she is to act differently.  See the following verses.

• 1 Peter 1:14-16 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

• 1 Peter 2:1-3 NIV 1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

• 1 Peter 2:11-12 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

• 1 Peter 1:8-9 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

These verses show that Christians are no longer to live the way they used to, when they “lived in ignorance” (of the truth about Christ), had sinful desires and did evil things.  Instead, Christians are to be holy and live good lives so that others may see this and want to learn more about God. They are to live a life of joy too, knowing that they are saved, and will one day be taken to heaven.

This raises the question though, of what enables Christians to live this way?  Is it simply by sheer commitment?  No, unlike non-Christians, Christians have a helper, the Holy Spirit who now lives within them, and they also have faith in the Lord, to help them live differently.  As we will learn from studying other books of the Bible, becoming a Christian does not make a person perfect, and he/she will continue to battle against temptations and sin; however, the good news is that sin no longer controls the behavior of a Christian.

Do you know of any true Christians?  If so, do they act differently in your view?  If they do, ask them about it.  Say, “I’ve noticed you don’t do or say certain things that most people do and say…why is that?”  Or, “I see that you pray before eating, why is that?”  At the same time, if you know that another person is a Christian, and is acting in a way that you consider to be non-Christian-like, then ask them about it too – maybe its the “wake-up call” that they need to live the way they should be living.