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 following notes are from the book of 1 Thessalonians.

Summary

A person becomes saved when they hear and understand the good news of salvation (or the gospel of Jesus Christ) and have faith in the Lord. That a person is saved from the gospel can be seen from 1 Thes 2:16, where Paul says, “They…are…hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved.”

A person’s salvation appears to be in response to action taken by God to either “call” or “appoint” a person for salvation. We know from other New Testament books that God appears to initiate a person’s salvation, but in this book it appears God may have gone beyond this to choose who (among the Thessalonians) would be saved.

Faith is another element of how a person is saved, and this book raises a few questions as to what faith really is.

When you become a Christian, your lifestyle should change. You are to live in a manner worthy of God, be obedient to His will, and serve Him (not yourself). You are to pray continually, be joyful always, and give thanks in all circumstances. You are to abstain from sexual immorality (which would include a lifestyle of homosexuality, adultery, prostitution, etc.) and seek to avoid every kind of evil.  Last, you should be patient with and kind to everyone.

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

• We can use the way in which the people of Thessalonica were saved as a model for how people are saved today.  These people:
  • Heard and believed the gospel (1 Thes 1:4, 1 Thes 2:2, 8, 9, 13, 16), and welcomed it with joy (1 Thes 1:4)
  • Turned away from worshiping idols (1 Thes 1:9)
  • Received faith in God (1 Thes 1:8) and became determined to serve Him (1 Thes 1:9)
• However, there is another part of the Thessalonian salvation story that is less clear in terms of its applicability today.  1 Thes 1:4 indicates that God chose them for salvation.  We know that the Jews were God’s chosen people, but it appears that the saved Thessalonians were largely Gentiles.  This raises the question as to whether God saved them in a slightly different way at that time for a specific purpose of spreading the church, or whether He chooses people for salvation today.  We need to review more Bible verses about this to know which is true for us today.

Characteristics of a Christian

• Has faith in God (1 Thes 1:8)
• Has turned to God and is willing to serve Him (1 Thes 1:9-10)
• Can expect to be rescued by Jesus from God’s wrath (1 Thes 1:10)
• Paul, Silas and Timothy were “holy, righteous and blameless” before those in Thessalonica (1 Thes 2:10).  If they were, Christians today can be too.

Characteristics of non-Christians

• Will experience God’s wrath (1 Thes 1:10)

How a Christian should live

• Serve God (1 Thes 1:9)
• Walk (or live) in a manner worthy of God (1 Thes 2:12).  Paul did not simply recommend that believers in Thessalonica live like this; he urged them to do so (1 Thes 4:1)
• Be obedient to God’s will, which means abstaining from sexual immorality (this would include lifestyles of homosexuality, adultery, premarital sex and prostitution), for God did not call us to live an impure life, but a holy one (1 Thes 4:3-7).  Those who reject this teaching reject God (1 Thes 4:8).
• Pray continually (1 Thes 5:17).
• Frequently pray and thank God for the faith, love and hope (for the return of Christ) of other believers (1 Thes 1:2).
• Be joyful always (1 Thes 5:16)
• Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thes 5:18)
• Be patient with and always be kind to everyone (1 Thes 5:14-15)
• Avoid every kind of evil (1 Thes 5:22)

Who God is

• The Father who raised Jesus from the dead (1 Thes 1:10)
• Calls Christians into His kingdom (1 Thes 2:12)
• Knows/tests a person’s heart (1 Thes 2:4).He is aware of your motives and desires, both the good and the bad.

Who Jesus is

• The Lord (1 Thes 1:1)
• Died and rose again (1 Thes 4:14)
• Rescues sinners from God’s wrath (1 Thes 1:10)
• He will come to this earth a second time to raise unbelievers who have died and believers (1 Thes 4:16-17).  The date of His return will be like a thief in the night though (1 Thes 5:2).

Other

• Prayers
  • Paul offers what appear to be short prayers to the Thessalonians, and we can use these when we pray for others:
    • May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else (1 Thes 3:12)
    • May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones (1 Thes 3:13)
• Satan is real and can affect your plans to do something, just as he did with the apostle Paul (1 Thes 2:18), though we may not clearly understand how he does this.

Faith

• A few verses in this book raise questions on what faith is.
  • We read that in times of trials, a Christian may need to be encouraged and strengthened in their faith (1 Thes 3:2-3).
  • Also, Paul said that he, Silas and Timothy earnestly prayed night and day to see the Thessalonians again and “supply what is lacking in” their “faith.”
  • Here are some questions I have on faith:
    • If faith is a gift from God, can we, by our own efforts, increase or strengthen it?
    • Is faith something God gives to us after we intellectually believe the gospel?
    • Does faith, in some verses, go beyond strong conviction to include knowledge of Bible doctrine?
    • Does faith include commitment?