Salvation Summaries

Can you know whether another person is saved?

This is a question I’ve asked, and answered, in my review of several other New Testament books, and the answer is always the same…yes.

In Ephesians, Paul knows, and the recipients know, that they are saved.  We can see this from the following:

• Paul refers to them as “saints” in 1:1. In the Bible, the word saint is another term for a believer, or Christian.

• Paul refers to them as the “faithful in Christ Jesus” in 1:1. Christians have faith in Christ, non-Christians do not.

• In 1:4-14, Paul tells them over and over, using different terms and in different ways, that they are saved. He tells them that God chose them (1:4), predestined them (1:5), adopted them (1:5), redeemed them (1:7), forgave them from their sins (1:7), gave them an (internal) inheritance (1:11) and that God sealed them with the Holy Spirit (1:13) after they had believed the gospel.

• And if that’s not enough, Paul tells them point blank in 2:8 that they are saved: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”. He says something very similar to this in 2:5.

So if Paul, from 2,000 years ago, could know whether other people are saved, can we know the same thing today?

The answer to this question is also “yes.”

“But how?” you may ask. Can you tell whether another person is saved by looking at them?  No.  By knowing whether they are a Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran or Catholic?  No.  By asking them? Possibly, though there are a number of people today who think they are a Christian but are not.

First, let me tell you why we can know whether another person is saved, and then I’ll venture out on a limb to tell you how we can know this.

So, in terms of why we can know, it is because of this:  If Paul could know whether another person is saved, and the way in which a person is saved has not changed over time, than we should be able to know too.  Do you agree with that?  Good.

Now, how could Paul know whether another person is saved?  The book of Ephesians wasn’t written to answer this question; however, Paul gives us come clues that we can use in order to answer it.  The clues are: 1) dead, 2) alive, 3) walk/live and 4) created.

• Clue 1 – dead.  Paul tells them that before being saved, they were dead spiritually, and this caused them to live in a certain way.  For example, in 2:1, he tells them this: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked…” And in 2:3 he adds, that “we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh.”  Thus, these believers formerly lived, or walked, in a lustful and sinful manner.

• Clue 2 – alive.  In 2:5, Paul says, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, (God), made us alive together with Christ…”  Upon their salvation, these believers changed spiritually – from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.  And, it only stands to reason, that if being spiritually dead caused them to act in a certain way (lustful, sinful), then spiritually alive should cause them to act in a different way.

• Clue 3 – walk/live.  Because these believers have changed spiritually, Paul wants them to live or walk in a way that truly reflects that.  We see this in 4:1, where Paul “implores” them to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling” they received.

• Clue 4 – created. God created us to have fellowship with Him, just like Adam and Eve originally did, and created us to do good works. We find this latter point in Ephesians 2:10 (“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”).

CONCLUSION

From our point of view, a person is saved when he/she hears and believes the gospel message about Christ.  But in reality, a person’s salvation begins with God, and God is the One who not only predetermines it, He brings it about.  Because of this, we can’t take credit for our salvation, as if it was based upon something we had done.  Rather, all we can do is thank the Lord for His grace in saving us.

You can know whether another person is saved. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, it is clear that he knew that they were saved.  He tells them this indirectly, and directly too: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9). If the way in which a person is saved has not changed over time (and it hasn’t, for the Bible would have had to change), then we should be able to know, today, whether another person is saved.

Paul’s letter gives us clues in how to determine whether another person is saved, and the primary means is from evaluating how they “walk” or live.  You see, there is a relationship between how a person lives and their spiritual condition.  A person who is spiritually dead, or not a Christian, “walks” or lives in a lustful and sinful manner.  A person who is spiritually alive, or a Christian, is supposed to walk or live in a manner that pleases the Lord.  From Paul’s having to “implore” the believers to act this way, and for him to have to list all of the ways in which they should live versus should not live, it appears that they were not walking in a way that clearly reflected the change that had taken place in them. Because of this, evaluating a person’s lifestyle alone is not a fool-proof way to determine whether a person is a Christian, although ideally it should be.