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 book of Acts.

Summary

God created us so that we would seek after Him and find Him.  He is not far from those who do this (Acts 17:27).  God wants everyone to repent and turn to Him (Acts 17:30). He calls to Himself those who will be saved (Acts 2:39).  

You become a Christian when you hear the gospel message, repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, and call out to Him. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

When you become saved, your sins are forgiven, your heart is cleansed by God, you receive God’s Holy Spirit, and you become justified, or made right with God (something you cannot do by trying to keep the Laws of Moses, which include the 10 commandments). Becoming saved is an act of God’s grace, for you cannot save yourself. Water baptism is not required for a person to be saved, but typically follows a person’s new belief in Jesus. Obedience toward God and Jesus is expected once a person becomes saved.  

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

• God is involved in a person’s salvation
  • A person is saved by God’s grace (Acts 15:11)
  • God calls to Himself those who will be saved (Acts 2:39)

• A person must do something to be saved:
  • God created us with the intent that we would seek after Him and find Him. He is not far from those who do this (Acts 17:27).  God wants everyone to repent and turn to Him (Acts 17:30).
  • You need to hear about God’s Son Jesus (Acts 11:14), believe in Him (Acts 10:43), repent and turn to God (Acts 3:19; 11:14-18).
    • Some verses in the Bible do not show all of these steps (see Acts 11:21, for example, which mentions believe and turn only). Other verses show other steps (ex. deny self, follow, lose life, etc.).
  • Salvation comes to those who call on Jesus (Acts 4:12, 2:20)
  • The word of God, or gospel message, is an integral part of becoming saved (Acts 6:7).  Part of the gospel message is the need to repent, or turn to God (Acts 14:15).

• The Philippian jailer story shows us how a person is saved. The jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas replied “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” We know that the jailer believed in God (Acts 16:34) and after this rejoiced greatly (Acts 16:34).

• Peter’s sermon shows one way to be saved. Peter told a crowd of people who wanted to be saved to “repent…and be baptized… for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
  • It appears that baptism results in forgiveness of sins, but from considering other verses on salvation, this would be an incorrect interpretation.
    • Repentance leads to forgiveness of sins (see Acts 3:19)
    • Baptism here may refer to becoming united with Jesus or the need to receive the Holy Spirit, for as we read in Acts 1:5, John baptized with water, but Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit. Or, it could be symbolic of the washing away of sins that takes place when one becomes a Christian (see Acts 22:16). Last, the order in which it appears in the verse may not be chronological; see Acts 22:16.
  • Salvation was available not only to Jews, but to anyone and everyone.
    • Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:20).
    • Peter told the crowd that the promise of the Holy Spirit (which a person receives upon being saved) is for adults, children, for all who are far off (others not Jews)…as many as the Lord will call to Himself (Acts 2:39).
  • Those who did what Peter said became saved (Acts 2:41, 47)

• Jesus sent Paul to the Gentiles to tell them how to be saved: Acts 26:17-18 Yes, I am going to send you to the Gentiles, 18 to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’

• Several changes take place when you become saved:
  • Your sins are forgiven (Acts 13:39)
  • You receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:17, 15:8-9)
  • God cleanses your heart by your faith in Him (Acts 15:8-9).
  • You become justified, or made right in God’s sight.  Righteousness is something that cannot be attained from obeying the Law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39), which includes the 10 commandments.

• Acts 13:48 indicates that the people who had heard Paul and Barnabas’ message of the gospel were appointed to eternal life and became believers. This verse is interpreted by some (Calvinists) as God determines who has eternal life, and in response, these people believe. However, others (Arminians) interpret this verse as referring to God-fearing Gentiles who had been saved by having faith in God and believing in His redemptive message of a Messiah prior to hearing about Jesus (thus were appointed to eternal life already) and now, after hearing about Jesus in particular, they believe in Him.

• Paul and Silas proclaimed to others the way to be saved (Acts 16:17).
  • How many pastors, ministers and priests do this today?

Relationship between faith/salvation and deeds

• When you become a Christian, you receive the HS, but Acts 5:32 says God gives the HS to those who obey Him. Obedience is related to becoming a Christian.
• When you repent, good deeds should follow (Acts 26:20)

How a Christian should live

• At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God (Acts 16:25), and this was while they were in prison.
  • Should Christians not do this in their homes today?
• In God we live and move and exist (Acts 17:28)
• In total submission to God. In Acts 18:21, Paul said “I will return to you again if God wills.” According to Paul, God determines where he goes and what he does.
• Encourage other believers and help them grow in the Lord. This is what the apostle Paul did (Acts 18:23).
• When Paul prayed with other believers before leaving them, they all knelt down to pray.  Kneeling to pray is biblical (Acts 20:5, 21:36), but not necessarily required.

Who God is

• Created us with the intent that we would seek after Him and find Him (Acts 17:27)
• Knows the future and arranges future events. See Acts 2:23, where Jesus was delivered over to be crucified according to the “predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” King David knew that God would do this more than 500 years before it happened (Ps 16:8-11).
• Raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 3:15, 10:40, 13:30)
• Exalted Jesus to God’s right hand as a Prince and Savior
• Made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them (Acts 4:24)
• Rescued Joseph all his afflictions and granted him wisdom and favor in the sight of the Pharaoh (Acts 7:10)
• Gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him
• Welcomes those who fear Him and do what is right (Acts 10:35)
• Appeared, in some form, to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2)
• Spoke to Moses (Acts 7:32) and sent him to be a ruler and deliverer of God’s people (Acts 7:35)
• Appointed Jesus to be the judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42)

Who Jesus is

• After rising from death, Jesus appeared to His disciples for 40 days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God. He then ascended into heaven (Acts 1:3-11).
• After ascending into heaven, was exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2:33).
• Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36, 5:42)
• Prince of Life (Acts 3:15)
• A Savior who God exalted to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31)
• Someone the prophets and Moses spoke about (Acts 26:22-23; Deuteronomy 18:15)
• Was sent by God to bless people (with salvation) if they turned from their wicked ways (Acts 3:26)
• Anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power (Acts 10:38)
• Went about doing good and healed those oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38)
• Killed on a cross (Acts 10:39)
• Raised by God on the third day after his death (Acts 10:40)
• Appointed by God to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42)

Baptism

• For Jesus’ disciples, being baptized with (or receiving) the Holy Spirit was more important than being baptized with water (Acts 1:5).  The same appears true today.

• The baptisms in Acts took place after a person heard the gospel message:
  • After hearing Philip preach the good news about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, men and women were baptized  (Acts 8:12)
  • After hearing the message of Jesus by Philip, the Ethiopian Eunuch was baptized (Acts 8:31-36)
  • After Simon the sorcerer believed the good news he was baptized (Acts 8:13)
  • After Saul heard from Jesus and believed in Him, he was baptized (Acts 9:3-19; 22:16)
  • After the group of Gentiles Peter had been speaking to received the Holy Spirit, they were baptized (Acts 10:44-48)
  • After Lydia heard Paul’s message, which was how to be saved (see Acts 16:17), God opened her heart to respond to the things Paul said.  After this, she and her household were baptized.  We do not know who was in her household, nor who told them about what Paul said. (Acts 16:15). However, it is reasonable to assume that Paul spoke to those in Lydia’s house (see Acts 16:30-33).
  • After the Philippian jailer and his household heard “the word of the Lord” from Paul, they believed and were baptized (Acts 16:31-34).
    • These verses do not tell us how many people were in the jailer’s household, what their gender was, or how old they were.  Thus, one cannot simply assume that the household included infants and that infants were also baptized.  Further, it is likely that if there were infants, none were baptized.  Why? Verse 34 says the whole household believed and verse 33 says that all in his household were baptized. Thus, all who believed were baptized; infants are not old enough to believe.

• There are two verses in Acts that indicate that baptism, presumably by water, saves a person.
  • The first is in Acts 2:38, Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The second is Acts 22:16: ‘And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
  • I explained Acts 2:38 in the section above on How a person is saved.
  • Regarding Acts 22:16, the order of the three requirements (be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on His name) does not appear to be chronological.  We know from Acts 2:41 and Acts 2:20 that a person becomes saved after hearing the gospel message and calling upon the name of the Lord. Baptism, in turn, follows this, as can be seen in the many examples of baptism found in the book of Acts (see above bullet point). Given this, a better way to interpret this verse is as follows: call upon Jesus’ name for salvation, receive forgiveness of and cleansing from your sins, and be baptized to symbolize that your sins have been washed away.

• The baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch was more likely by pouring or immersion than sprinkling, for both went down “into the water” and “came up out of the water” (Acts 8:38). There was no need to go into the water if Philip sprinkled the Eunuch (they could have gone near or beside the water).  If Philip poured water over, dipped, or immersed him, both would have needed to go into the water (Acts 3:38). According to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word used here, baptizo, means to dip, immerse, or sink.

• Some view the need to be baptized in Acts 2:38, and the promise for your children in Acts 2:39, as supporting infant baptism.  However, this appears to be an incorrect interpretation of these verses.
  • The point of Acts 2:38 is how a person becomes saved and thus receives the Holy Spirit.  It is done by repenting and having your sins forgiven.  The need to be baptized in this verse is confusing, as it appears necessary for salvation. However, if you simply turn to the next chapter, Acts 3:19, you see that repentance – not baptism – leads to forgiveness of sins, and a number of other verses (in other New Testament books) support this.  As a result, a better way to understand the order of events in this verse is: repent, be forgiven of your sins, receive the HS, and be baptized.  This is consistent with all other examples of baptism in Acts, where baptism follows a hearing of the gospel message and believing in Jesus.
  • The point of Acts 2:39 is that God will honor His promise, which is giving the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:39, 2:33, 2:18 and 1:4-5) to everyone who becomes saved.  Peter identifies several groups – you, your children, and all who are far off – but qualifies each of them with this…”as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”  Thus, while the promise is available to anyone and everyone, only those whom the Lord calls to Himself will receive the promise.  So, who does the Lord call?  It is those who, in response, call upon Him (Acts 2:20) and repent. Thus, infants are not in view here (only older children are), as they would not be able to call upon the Lord and repent. We see a similar type of audience in Peter’s citation of part of Joel’s prophecy in Acts 2:17-21.  In these verses, God’s Holy Spirit is available to sons, daughters, young men, old men, and bondslaves too (essentially to everyone) – but only those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved and thus receive it.  There is no mention of baptism in Joel’s prophecy, for baptism was not required to become saved.

• Some interpret Acts 2:39 to mean that the children of believing parents should be baptized.  However, there is nothing specific in this verse about it applying only to children of believing parents.  The promise is extended to all whom the Lord God will call, regardless of whether that person is a child (but not an infant), a single adult, a married adult with children or a married adult without children.

Other

• Becoming saved can profoundly change a person’s life. Saul is an example (Acts 9).

• The Billy Graham approach to salvation appears to be Biblical (though there is debate on how effective this really is):
  • Acts 14:1 says “…they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke (this would be the gospel per Acts 14:7) in such a manner that a large number of people believed.”
  • Acts 28:23-24: They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

• What was the message that Paul preached?
  • God made the world and all things in it.  He is Lord of heaven and earth. He is not served by human hands; He does not need anything. He gives to all people life and breath and all things (Acts 17:24) 
  • God brought Israel as Savior, Jesus Christ, from the line of David (Acts 13:23)
  • He explained and gave evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 17:3, 13:30)
  • God’s raising up of Jesus fulfilled God’s promise (Acts 13: 33)
  • Repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21; 24:24)
  • Through belief in Jesus your sins are forgiven and you become justified (righteous in God’s sight); you can’t become justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:39)
  • The way of salvation (Acts 16:17, 13:26)
  • The gospel of God’s grace (Acts 20:24)
  • Righteousness (Acts 24:25)

• News of other people becoming Christians should give believers great joy. That you can know whether another person has converted, from a believer to an unbeliever, shows that salvation itself is not a process, but a one time event.
  • Acts 15:3 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad.

• A household does not always include infants (Acts 10:2).
• In the NT, the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter (Acts 10:19)
• The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26)
• Becoming a Christian does not mean God will save you from persecution.
  • King Herod ordered James, the brother of John, to be put to death with a sword (Acts 12:1-2).
  • Paul and Silas were beaten (Acts 16:23)
• Many Christians were praying for Peter’s release from prison (King Herod sent him there), and God did this by sending an angel who freed him (Acts 12:5-12). However, those who were praying at Mary’s house did not pray with strong belief, for they did not believe Peter was released even when Rhoda said she saw him. (Acts 12:13-16).