Salvation of Mankind

Someone may have asked you in the past if you are saved. It is a Christian term referring to your eternal position with the God of this universe and your personal acceptance of the salvation that is provided in Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection and the fact that he sets at the righthand of the Father interceding for us.

God’s Word says that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus and not by our own efforts or works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace Alone. Faith Alone. Grace alone means that God loves, forgives, and saves us not because of who we are or what we do, but because of the work of Christ. Now that we have that context, let’s look at the focus scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9. “For it is by grace you are saved through faith— and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works so that no one can boast.”

What are we saved from? Salvation in Christianity, or deliverance or redemption, is the “saving [of] human beings from death and separation from God” by Christ’s death and resurrection. Salvation is the act of delivering (or keeping away) from evil or saving from sin. It is a gift from God and has three phases in the life of the Christian:

First, we are saved from the penalty of sin. Galatians 3:9 Amplified Bible,” 9 So then those who are people of faith [whether Jew or Gentile] are blessed and favored by God [and declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty and placed in right standing with Him] along with Abraham, the believer.

Then through the sanctification process we are set free from the power of sin. When you receive Jesus as your Savior, your old self is crucified, and you live. This is known as the great exchange—your life for His. The key to victory is not doing but dying. When you start living for Him rather than yourself, you start living the abundant life He spoke about in John 10:10.

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. Luke 9:22-24 NKJV.

The final work of salvation is eliminating the presents of sin. Speaking of the New Jerusalem in the new Heaven and Earth the Bible says, “22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 21:22-27 NKJV.

How do you receive salvation and be set free from the penalty of sin? Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Confess the Lord as savior and lord of your life and begin to walk in it testifying of him and his mercy and grace toward all peoples.

14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:14-15 NKJV