The Whole of Salvation
There are many men who teach the false gospel that a Christian's Ephesians 2:8 conversion event is the whole of salvation. But every soul without exception will be judged by works without any impartiality, they will be judged to determine their eternal destiny and this is part of the gospel (Rom 2:6-16). Our conversion event is not the whole of salvation and the end of salvation. It is only the beginning of our salvation. In our conversion events, we were saved by grace from our past sins so that we might be reconciled to God and walk a new life bearing the fruit of righteousness and be saved on judgment day when Jesus comes in glory. Those who do not bear good fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire. The gate is small and the road is narrow which leads to life and few find it.
God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross so that we might be saved from our sins. This salvation from our sins was given to us as a free gift. God did this so that we might be reconciled to Him because we cannot have a relationship with God in our sins. And He did this so that we might walk a new life and be saved on Judgment day.
When we are converted into Christ this event is not the whole of our salvation. Here we have been saved from our past sins. But after this, there is another salvation event which will occur when Jesus comes again and so after we are saved from our sins, we are still in the process of "being saved." We were saved from our sins but we still need to be saved from something. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. And when Jesus comes again, the faithful will be raised from the dead to immortal life and saved from eternal destruction.
1. A Christian's Past Salvation Event
When we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.... For by grace you have been saved through the faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:5-9
Those in Christ have been saved from their past sins. They were saved as a free gift of God. It is a past event. However, having been saved from their sins is not the end but the beginning of the whole of their salvation.
Saved from our sins for a Purpose
HAVE BEEN saved
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned....You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would abide.
John 15:1-16
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 7:19
2. A Faithful Christian's Current Situation
BEING saved
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Cor 1:18.
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are being saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:1-2.
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved.
2 Corinthians 2:15
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the Day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
Philippians 2:13-16 Being Saved from What?
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.... The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
1 Corinthians 15:17-26.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.... the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead.
Acts 23:6
[I have] a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
Acts 24:15
That I may know Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.... For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of humiliation into conformity with the body of His glory, by the working of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
Philippians 3:10-21.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
1 John 3:2-3.
3. A Faithful Christian's Future Hope
WILL BE saved
For our salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.
Romans 13:11
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who in the power of God are kept through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5
For you yourselves know full well that the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.... But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-10.
Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without respect to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Hebrews 9:28.
Salvation is Conditional upon Bearing Fruit of Righteousness
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom God? Do not be deceived.
1 Corinthians 6:9.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:7-8.
No One May Boast
There is no room for boasting because our salvation when Jesus comes in glory will not have been out of ourselves. In fact, we must deny ourselves to be saved. We must deny the flesh, die to the flesh and its filthy rags. And if we do, then it is God who is at work in us to work according to His good pleasure. God prepares works for us to do and the works he prepares for us to do are not filthy rags. We deny ourselves, deny the flesh and all its filthy rags, to do the will of God. No one may boast because all the works we do are worked in God. God is the Vinedresser and Jesus is the Vine. Without Jesus we can do nothing. But if we abide in him, we will bear good fruit of righteousness and not be cut down and thrown into the fire.
God is responsible for the whole of salvation. He provided the way for us to be saved from our past sins. And having been saved from our sins God is the one who is at work in us to do the good works He prepares for us to do so that we might be saved on Judgment day when Jesus comes in glory to judge the living and the dead by the works they have done.
