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 1 Peter.

Summary

A person becomes a Christian upon accepting or believing the gospel of salvation as found in the Bible, turning to Jesus for forgiveness of sins, and trusting in Him as Lord. One who does this becomes born again, a child of God, redeemed, and part of the elect. Once saved, a person is responsible to obey God the Father and the Lord Jesus.

1 Peter contains a number of verses on how a Christian should live.  Three stood out to me:

1. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, or, using the New Living Translation, “worship Christ as Lord of your life.”  (1 Peter 3:15)
2. Fervently love your Christian brothers and sisters (1 Peter 1:22)
3. To mature as a Christian (or grow in your salvation), you must do two things: 1) long for His word (crave it as a baby craves milk) and 2) get rid of the sins in your life.  (1 Peter 2:1-3)

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

• The Bible uses the terms “elect”, “chosen” and “called” to describe Christians and God’s role in their salvation. Christians vary in how they interpret these terms.
  • In 1 Peter 1:1-2, the elect people had been chosen “according to the foreknowledge” of God the Father.  Thus, God knew in advance that they would respond to the gospel; the chosen are those who understand and accept it; those who don’t are neither chosen nor elect. Salvation today works in the same way.  Those who understand and accept the good news of salvation will be saved, and God knows, before you do, whether you will do this or not.
• The prophets in the Old Testament learned about salvation from the Holy Spirit that lived inside of them, but they were not provided details. However, they knew salvation involved God’s grace, and the death and resurrection of Christ (1 Peter 1:10-11.).
• Accept/believe the truth of God’s good news, which can cleanse you from your sins (1 Peter 1:23)
• Turn to Jesus and trust Jesus for the salvation of your soul (1 Peter 1:9, 2:25).
• You become born again, or saved, through the word of God, which contains the good news of salvation (1 Peter 1:23).
  • Your parents gave you a physical life, but this life ends in death.
  • God gives you a spiritual life that never ends.

Relationship between faith/salvation and deeds

• Elect and chosen (by God) people are done so for a purpose – to obey Jesus (1 Peter 1:2).

Characteristics of a non-Christian

• The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous (saved) and His ear is open to their prayers; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (the unsaved) (1 Peter 3:12)
• Non-Christians have not believed God’s good news of salvation. According to the Bible, a terrible fate awaits those who don’t believe in God (1 Peter 4:17).
• Non-Christians say and do wicked and evil things (examples include immorality, lust, drunkenness, wild parties, and the worshiping of idols  (1 Peter 4:3-4)

Characteristics of a Christian

• Has faith
• Redeemed (1 Peter 1:18)
• Cleansed from your sins by Jesus’ blood (1 Peter 1:2) upon accepting the truth of the Good News (1 Peter 1:23)
• Belongs to Christ (1 Peter 3:16); in Christ (1 Peter 5:14)
• A child of God (1 Peter 1:4)
• No longer a slave to sin; thus, you can now live for what is right (1 Peter 2:24)
• God’s holy priest (1 Peter 2:5)
• Born again into a new life that lasts forever (1 Peter 1:23)
  • You can know if you have been born again and if others have been born again, for Peter knew this of himself and those to whom he wrote (1 Peter 1:3) .
• Assurance of your salvation
  • People who have been born again (believers) have a “priceless inheritance” awaiting for them in heaven (1 Peter 1:4). God will keep these people saved until they receive their ultimate salvation upon death, which is heaven (1 Peter 1:4-5).

How a Christian should live

• Sanctify Christ as Lord of your heart. The NLT reads Worship Christ as Lord of your life (1 Peter 3:15).
  • Some Christians say you only need to believe in Jesus to be saved, and that He does not need to be Lord of your life too. But who is Jesus?  He is Lord, is He not? And Lord of who? Of all. Believing in Him for salvation means you believe in Him as Lord of all, including you. Believing in Him as Lord of others but not of you means you are unwilling to assign to Him His rightful place (owner) in your life.

• To grow (become more mature) as a Christian, or in your salvation, you must:
  • 1) long or yearn for God’s word (just as newborn babies long for milk) and
  • 2) get rid of the sins in your life (1 Peter 2:1-3). The ones Peter mentions were likely specific to his audience, and may not be present in your life; however, the point is not to get rid of certain sins, but all sins:
    • malice – ill-will, desire to injure, but might also include wickedness and depravity (if so, this would include homosexuality)
    • deceit – deceive, snare, trick to exploit someone naive
    • hypocrisy – claiming to have moral standards or beliefs but your actions speak otherwise; pretending to be what you are not or believe something you don’t
    • envy – being glad when someone experiences misfortune or pain; grudge; spite
    • slander – making false statement to damage someone’s reputation
• Honor God and thank Him for His mercy in giving us the privilege of being born again (1 Peter 1:3)
• Love Jesus and trust Him (1 Peter 1:8)
• Obey God since you are a child of His (1 Peter 1:14)
• Be holy in all that you do; do not do evil (or be conformed to the desires and lusts) you had before as an unbeliever (1 Peter 1:15)
• Do right (deeds) in order to silence the ignorance of the foolish (1 Peter 2:15)
• Understand that God will allow trials in your life in order to test your faith (1 Peter 1:7).  Pass the test to show that your faith is strong.
• Pray to God your Father (1 Peter 1:17)
• Show non-Christians the goodness of God (1 Peter 2:9). Act honorably even when falsely claimed to have done wrong (1 Peter 2:12), for this may help them believe in God. It is God’s will that your good lives should silence those who make foolish accusations against you (1 Peter 2:15)
• Fervently love your Christian brothers and sisters (1 Peter 1:22, 2:17, 4:8), for they are of God too.
• Show sympathy to each other, be loving, humble and unified (1 Peter 2:8)
• You are free – not to do evil – but to live as God’s slaves (1 Peter 2:16)
• Fear God (1 Peter 2:17
• Be anxious to do the will of God (1 Peter 4:2)
• Share your home with those who need a meal or place to stay (1 Peter 4:9)
• Live with a wonderful expectation that you will be raised from the dead just like Jesus was (1 Peter 1:3). This comes from being united with Him.
• Live with gladness and joy, knowing that because of your ongoing trust in the Lord, you will receive an inheritance from God (1 Peter 1:5-6).
• Live in reverent fear of God while you live on this earth, for He judges all according to their work/deeds (1 Peter 1:17), and His Son made the ultimate sacrifice for you (1 Peter 1:18)
• Abstain from evil desires for they wage war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11)
• Get rid of malicious behavior and deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy and backstabbing (1 Peter 2:1)
• Don’t repay evil for evil; don’t retaliate. Instead, repay with a blessing (1 Peter 3:9)
• Give all of your cares and worries to God, for He cares about what happens to you (1 Peter 4:7)
• Be ready and willing to suffer for Christ (1 Peter 4:1-2). Rejoice when you suffer on account of your faith in Him, for you will be exalted (1 Peter 4:13). Glorify God when you suffer for Him (1 Peter 4:16).
• Follow in the footsteps of Christ who suffered (thus, we should be willing to suffer for our faith) (1 Peter 2:21)
• Watch out for attacks from Satan. Take a firm stand against him and be strong in your faith (1 Peter 4:8-9)
• Always be ready to give an explanation for your hope of eternal life. Do this in a gentle and respectful way (1 Peter 3:15-16).
• Wives – live in a godly way, trust God, accept the authority of your husband (1 Peter 3:1-6)
• Husbands – honor your wife, treat her with understanding and as you should else your prayers to God won’t be answered (1 Peter 2:7)

Who God is and what He is like

• Father of the Lord Jesus (1 Peter 1:3)
• Gives His people the privilege of being born again (1 Peter 1:3)
• Believers that Peter wrote to had been chosen beforehand by God for salvation (1 Peter 1:2).
• God will judge you or reward you according to what you do.
  • Live in reverent fear of Him (1 Peter 1:17).
• Paid a ransom to offer salvation to His people (1 Peter 1:18).
  • His ransom was Jesus (1 Peter 1:19). God chose Jesus for this purpose before the world began (1 Peter 1:20).
• Raised Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:21)

Who Jesus is and what He is like

• Lord (1 Peter 1:3)
• Shepherd (1 Peter 2:25)
• The living cornerstone of God’s temple (1 Peter 2:4)
• Rejected by people but precious to God the Father who chose Him (1 Peter 2:4)
• Never sinned (1 Peter 2:22, 3:18)
• Bore our sins in His body so that we would no longer be slaves to sin and could live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24)
• Died for sinners in order to bring them home safely to God the Father (1 Peter 3:18)
• In heaven, all of the angels and authorities and powers bow before Jesus (1 Peter 3:22)

Other

• Why would a Christian’s faith need to be tested if faith was completely from God? There would appear to be a human element to one’s faith.
• Baptism is the appeal to God from a clean conscience (1 Peter 3:21)