Salvation Summaries

I am going through each book in the New Testament (again) and writing bullet point comments about how a person becomes a Christian and how a Christian should live.  The comments below are from the gospel book of John.

Summary of how to become a Christian according to John

It is God’s will that everyone who believes in Jesus receives eternal life (and thus becomes a Christian). However, there is more to believing in Jesus than people realize. Believing in Jesus is synonymous with coming to Jesus, and this involves surrendering one’s life to Jesus, committing to follow Him, and being willing to suffer (even die) for Him. Many “Christians” fall short here, and as such may not truly be saved. Being born again, with the Holy Spirit (thus receiving the Holy Spirit) is also required for salvation.

Once you are saved, you are no longer condemned for your sins, your sins (past, present and future) are forgiven, and you are no longer a slave to a sinful way of life. You receive God’s Holy Spirit, and you pass from being spiritual dead to being spiritually alive.  A saved person should love Jesus and seek to obey Him.

What is salvation? It is:

• No longer being condemned for your sins (John 5:24)
• No longer being a slave to sin (John 8:34-36)
• Being saved from God’s wrath (John 3:36)
• Passing from spiritual death to spiritual life (John 5:24; John 8:21, 24)
• Knowing Jesus the Son and God the Father (John 17:3)
• Receiving the Holy Spirit who now abides in you (John 14:17)

Who is saved?

• It is God’s will that everyone who believes in Jesus will receive eternal life (John 6:40)
• Those whose sins are forgiven are saved; those who sins are not forgiven are not saved (John 8:24)

How a person is saved (and verses relating to salvation)

• A person can believe in Jesus, and even be a “disciple” of His, but not be saved.
  • Many people believed that Jesus came from God based upon His miracles (John 2:23-24), but that doesn’t make a person a Christian. A few verses later in John 3, Nicodemus said “we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs (miracles) that You do unless God is with him,” but he was not saved at this time (he had not been born again).
  • Jesus knew beforehand which of His disciples believed in Him and which did not (John 6:64-66).
  • Simon believed and was baptized, but it appears that he wasn’t saved until later (Acts 8:12-24).
  • See the parable of the soils, where soils 2 and 3 hear and understand the gospel but are unbelievers; only 4 bears fruit.
  • Many of Jesus’ disciples withdrew and no longer walked with Him (John 6:66).
  • Many Jewish rulers believed in Jesus but would not “confess Him” (or their faith in Jesus) for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men more than the approval of God (John 12:42).

• However, a person must believe in Jesus to be saved (which raises the question, what does believe really mean?) (John 3:15, 16; 6:27-29; 8:24; 11:25-26; 20:31).

• You must “come to Jesus” to be saved (John 5:40, 6:44, 7:37)
  • Come to Jesus appears to be the same as believing in Him (John 6:35; 7:37-38)
  • Those who “come to Jesus” have heard & learned from God the Father (John 6:45)

• There is more to believing and coming to Jesus than people realize.  Surrendering control of one’s life to Jesus, committing to follow Him and being willing to suffer (even die) for Him are part of this. Many “Christians” fall short here, and as such, may not be truly saved.
  • John 12:25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
  • Matthew 16:24-26 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
  • See Luke 9:23-26, Luke 17:33 and other verses in the gospels.

• The only way to God the Father is through Jesus (John 14:6)

• You must be born again of water and the Spirit to be saved (John 3:3, 5, 7).
  • Some view water as referring to baptism or physical birth.  Better explanations, in my view, include receiving the HS or a spiritual cleansing by the HS.

• Becoming saved can be as simple as asking Jesus to be saved.
  • Salvation is a free gift (John 4:10), it is something Jesus has authority to give (John 4:10, 14), and what He gives is the Holy Spirit (living water, John 4:10).
  • John 7:37 (“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink..”).

• God the Father has a role in a person’s salvation:
  • The Father draws people to Jesus for salvation (John 6:44)
  • People who have learned from the Father “come” to Jesus (John 6:45)

• Eternal security:
  • If you hear, understand and believe in Jesus’ message (of the gospel) and believe in God (the Father), you  HAVE eternal life (John 5:24). You will NEVER be condemned for your sins (John 5:24).  You HAVE crossed over from spiritual death to spiritual life (John 5:24)
  • Salvation is not only a free gift, it is an eternal gift (John 4:14).
  • He who believes in Jesus HAS eternal life (John 6:47)
  • He who “eats this bread” will live forever (John 6:58)
  • Jesus gives eternal life to His sheep; they will never perish and no one can snatch them from His “hand” (John 10:28)

• Losing one’s salvation
  • In John 15, the vine and the branches, some believe that those who do not remain (or continue to abide) in Jesus, the vine, will lose their salvation.  This needs to be reconciled with the verses above that indicate the eternal security of the believer.  Also, when a person is saved, that person becomes born again and receives the Holy Spirit. I know of no verse that indicates a person can lose the Holy Spirit, and then regain, or become unborn after being born again.  If a person can lose their salvation, there would appear to be no way of regaining it.

• The unsaved:
  • Do not want their evil deeds to be exposed. “Everyone who does evil hates the Light (Jesus), and does not come to the Light for fear that his/her deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:20)
  • Remain under God’s wrath (John 3:36)
    • Note: non-Christians who believe the God loves everyone, regardless of their lifestyle, fail to realize that God’s wrath is upon them, and will remain so until they repent of their sinful lifestyle and surrender control of their life to God’s Son.
  • Remain a slave to sin (everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin; only Jesus can free you from being a slave. John 8:34-36)
  • Will die in their sins (John 8:24)

What is the relationship between faith and deeds/obedience

• Obedience is implied in true belief. (John 3:36).
  • He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36)
• Those who love Jesus obey Him (John 14:15).
• You must not only “come to Jesus” and believe in Him, but be willing to follow Him.
  • John 12:26 “those who want to be my disciples must come and follow me, because my servants must be where I am.”
  • John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish;”

How a Christian should live

• Seek to know Jesus (better), hear His voice (more) and keep following Him (John 10; 4, 14, 27; 8:12)

• Worship God in spirit (only a born again person can do this).
  • Per Constable’s commentary, since God is spirit and not corporeal (has no body), we must worship Him in spirit (John 4:24). A prerequisite to do this is to be born again.  (John 3:5,7)

• Fear God and do His will, for your prayers are more likely to be heard and answered (John 9:31). If you cherish sin in your heart, don’t expect God to “hear” you in the sense of answering your prayers. (Psalm 66:18)

• Love one another as Christ loved you (John 13:34).  This is a commandment of Jesus (John 15:12, 17).

• If you want Jesus to reveal Himself to you, you must love Him.
  • John 14:21 21 Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them.”

• Obey Jesus out of love for Him.
  • John 14:23-24 23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

• Bear fruit (John 15:16); this is how you prove (to yourself and others) that you are a disciple of Jesus and thus a Christian (John 15:8). This brings glory to God too.

Who God is

• Loves the world (John 3:15)
• Gave Jesus to the world in order to save people from their sins (John 3:15-17)
• Gave Jesus the authority to judge the living and the dead (John 5:27)
• Loves the Son and has given Him authority over everything (John 3:35, 5:20)
• A Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).
• Can raise the dead and give them life (John 5:21)
• Draws people to Jesus for salvation (John 6:44)

Who Jesus is

• The Word who was with God and who was God (John 1:1)
• Is from God and was sent by God (John 7:29)
• Is God (John 1:18)
  • “before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58)
• Speaks the words of God (John 3:34)
  • Continuously existed (John 1:1)
  • The Word who became flesh (John 1:1,14)
• Equal with God (John 5:17-18)
• One with the Father (John 10:30)
• Is Lord and Teacher (John 13:13)
• Full of grace and truth (John 1:14)
• A King (John 12:15; 18:37)
• The Messiah, or Christ (John 1:41)
• The Light who came into the world (John 3:19); the Light of the world (John 8:12; 12:35)
• The bread of life (John 6:35)
• The gate for His sheep; the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:7, 11)
• The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36)
• The resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
• The way, and the truth and the life (John 14:6)
• Greater than all who have been born on the earth (John 3:31)
• The one Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote about (John 1:45, 5:46)
• Son of Joseph (1:45).
• Had a mother and brothers (John 2:12)
• A Jew (John 4:9)
• Not accepted in His own land or among His own people (John 1:11)
• Through Him all things were created (John 1:3)
• Gives salvation, or the right to become a child of God, to all who believe in and accept Him (John 1:12). Giver of eternal life (John 6:27).
• Has authority to lay down His life and to take it up again (John 10:18)
• Crucified but found to be without guilt (John 19:4, 6, 18, 33). His crucifixion fulfilled prophecy (19:36)
• Rose from the dead (John 20:15)
• Performed miracles
  • Converted water in 6 stone water pots (each held 20-30 gallons) into wine. (John 2:5-9)
  • Healed a royal official’s son who was near death without even seeing the son (John 4:50). This was Jesus’ second miracle.
  • Healed a man by the sheep gate pool who had been ill 38 years (John 5:8)
  • Multiplied 5 loaves of barley and 2 fish to feed 5,000 men, plus their wives and children (John 6:10-13)
  • Walked on the sea to the boat the disciples were in (John 6:19). He then caused the boat to immediately arrive to the land where they were headed (John 6:21)
  • Healed blind man (John 9:8)
  • Raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:44)
• Spoke in parables (“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”). (John 2:19)

• Came down from heaven to do the Father’s will, who gives eternal life to everyone who believes in His Son (John 6:40)
• Came to save the world (John 12:47)

• Can raise someone from the dead and give them life (John 5:21)
• Was given the authority by God the Father to judge the living and the dead (John 5:27)
• Knew things about people without anyone having told Him (John 4:18; 5:6; 18:4)
• Baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33) in contrast to John the Baptist who baptized with water
• Interacted with Samaritans, even though Jews were not supposed to (John 4:9, 27)
• A person the world hates, for Jesus shows that worldly people live evil and sinful lives (John 7:7)
• Displayed righteous anger at (he drove out) those who exchanged money and sold doves in the temple (John 2:14-16)
• Prayed to God the Father (John 11:41-42)
• Had human emotions: tired, saddened and troubled (John 11:33), wept (John 11:35)

Baptism

• John baptized in Aenon “because there was much water there” (John 3:23). If he baptized by immersion, much water would be needed. If he baptized by pouring, much water may not have been needed. If he baptized by sprinkling, much water would not have been needed.

Other

• Predetermined views and emotion can prevent one from seeing the truth.
  • The Pharisees saw that a blind man had been healed, and heard it was by Jesus.  The blind man told the Pharisees that no one had ever healed a blind person, so this Jesus must be from God. The Pharisees refused to acknowledge the obvious, for they did not like Him (John 9:18-34).

• Satan, the devil (John 8:45):
  • was a murderer from the beginning
  • has no truth in him; whenever he speaks, he speaks a lie; he is the father of lies
  • entered into Judas (John 13:27)

• Calling yourself a Christian does not make you one. Saying you believe in Jesus does not necessarily make you one either.  As shown above, a person must be born again to be saved.  Because the world mocks this phrase, self proclaimed Christians may not agree that it is required. Also, to be a Christian, you must “come to Jesus”, which is also mocked by the world.  Coming to Jesus means that you surrender control of your life to Him, become willing to follow Him and make sacrifices (even die) for Jesus.  In short, it means dying to self, or your old way of life, and becoming a servant of or slave to Jesus, your new owner.  This is a radical change in one’s life, and worldliness and pride prevent most from allowing this to take place.  There is a great cost to follow Jesus (Luke 14:28), and this cost is too high for many.  But the cost of not following Him is even greater.