Salvation Summaries

OVERVIEW OF BOOK

Have you ever stopped for a moment to think not about what you want or don’t have in this life, but how blessed you really are? I must confess, I don’t do this nearly enough. But after reading the book of Ephesians, I did thank God for some of the obvious ways in which He has blessed me and my family (though I’m sure there are many blessings I failed to mention and many I’m not even aware of).

In this book, Paul reminds the believers of the many spiritual blessings God has given them because of their relationship with His Son. Paul uses their salvation as an example, and describes in great detail how God saved them.

Paul also encourages them, via his prayers, to grow in their knowledge of God, to more fully understand His power, and to grasp how wide, long, high and deep (remember this Sunday School song when you were a child?) God’s love is for them. His prayers are a great example for us to use when praying for others.

Why did Paul do this?  So that they would praise God, and live in a way that pleases Him. As part of this, Paul provides a lengthy list of how these believers should live (be humble, gentle, patient, kind, forgiving, encouraging, loving, etc.) and not live  (use bad language, act thoughtlessly or greedy, live an impure or sexually immoral life, etc.) because of the change that God has made in them.

If you are a believer and feeling “down” or burdened or stressed, then read this book and take courage, for you have received the ultimate blessing – salvation in the Lord – and many more blessings too. Or, if you are a believer and want guidance on how you should live, then read this book, for it has practical advice on how to do this.

But if you’re uncertain whether you are a Christian (according to how the Bible defines a Christian), then read this book to learn how blessed you can become when you put your faith in God’s Son.

SALVATION-RELATED VERSES

How does a person become saved (or a Christian)?

This is a question I’ve asked and answered in my review of other books of the Bible, and you might be surprised to learn that the answer varies. Does that mean that there’s more than one way for a person to become a Christian?  No.  There are different parts of one process in how a person is saved.

For example, some verses say that you need to believe in Jesus in order to be saved (John 3:16; Romans 10:9); others say you are saved by faith (Eph 2:8); still others say you must repent to become a believer (Luke 13:3), be born again (John 3:3, 7), come to Jesus (John 5:40; 7:37), etc… All of these are either a component of the process to become saved, or define one part of it using a different term,  but the process doesn’t change.

“So, what is this process?” you ask.  Before I answer such a great question, let me first say that I’m a little hesitant to use the word process, for some may disagree with it on the grounds that a person becomes saved at a single point in time rather than over time.  I agree with that; a person is saved when a spiritual transaction takes place by God (though sanctification, which relates to salvation, lasts a lifetime).  However, there is a certain awareness and understanding that must take place in a person, followed by a response, to be saved.  I’m calling this a process.

The focus of the process, the heart of the process, is Jesus Christ.  You believe in Him, you put your faith in Him, you repent of your sins on account of Him, and you come to Him.  Before you do this, though, you must first hear about Him to learn who He is.  For some, they may want to compare Jesus to other “gods” or founders of a religion, such as Mohammed, or Budha, to see what makes Jesus unique, and worthy of one’s reverence.  Then, you must become aware of, and understand, what He has done for you: Jesus was willing to die for you and me as a substitute for the penalty we deserve because of our sinfulness.  Upon doing this, you respond by repenting of your sins, you come to Jesus in complete dependence upon Him for your salvation, and you commit your life to Him, even if it means having to die for Him.  This, in a nutshell, is how a person is saved, at least according to our point of view.  But, as Paul Harvey used to say, “now, for the rest of the story.”

While we often view salvation through the lens of what we must do, Ephesians helps us understand that we should see salvation through God’s lens, so to speak.  When we do this, we learn that the process for a person to become saved starts much earlier.  You might say there’s a chain reaction that takes place when a person becomes saved, and the chain doesn’t start where most people may think it starts. It starts, or I should say started, a long time ago…before you were born…and even before the world began.

In Ephesians, we learn that the salvation of Paul and the believers in his letter started with God. God chose them before the world was created (1:4).  Out of love He predestined (predetermined) that they would be adopted as sons (1:5). He gave them an inheritance, or the guarantee of eternal life in heaven (1:11). As you can see, this part of the “chain” started a long time ago.

Paul goes on to say that when these believers listened to “the message of the truth,” the gospel of their salvation, and believed it, God sealed them with the Holy Spirit, who was given as a pledge of their inheritance (1:13-14), and He forgave them of their sins (1:7). At that point, their salvation was complete.

So, let me ask you a few questions about how God saved these Ephesian believers. Was it based upon how nice and kind they were to others? No. Was it based upon how well they complied with the 10 commandments?  No. Was it based upon their baptism?  No. Did God know in advance that they would be saved? Yes. Did God have a “hand” in their salvation, or was it simply due to their decision to believe in Christ?  Their belief was the dotting of the “i” in the word salvation, with God writing out the rest of the letters. What was the only requirement the Ephesian believers had to meet in order to be saved?  Hear and believe the gospel, which is the good news of salvation, and which is all about Christ (but as we will learn later, there is much more to the word “believe” than what we think there is).  And while hearing and believing would seem to be something that is completely within the control of a person, there are clear indications in the Bible that God was involved in this too, by sovereignly arranging for them the opportunity (ies) to hear, and enabling them with the ability and desire to believe. In short, God draws people to Himself in order that  they can become saved.

If you are not a Christian, then go to a church, or talk to a Christian, to learn about the gospel message – the good news that Jesus saves undeserving sinners – and when you hear and understand this message, then repent of your sins, come to Him with complete dependence upon Him to save you, and commit your life to Him even if it means having to die for Him. A person who does this will receive God’s blessings, including eternal life.