The sin of man has caused his separation from God, Isaiah 59:2. There is no man who is immune from this; it is something that befalls us all, for we all sin, Romans 3:23. As a result, we are paid the wages that are due to us, our death, Romans 6:23.
But as Romans 6:23 also states, we are given eternal life through Christ, as a free gift from God. But as it is also evident that not every man is saved, Matthew 7:13-14; therefore, there must be a mechanism, a procedure, by which we pass from death into life. Since Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,’” John 14:6, the procedure for passing from death to life must be contained in the New Testament.
What saves us?
The Bible tells us that there are 12 different things that save us. John 17:17-18 says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” This means that whatever the Scripture says, it is the truth. Therefore, it cannot contradict itself. Therefore, all 12 must harmonize together.
The short answer to how we are saved, is found in Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Simple enough.
But there are many who dispute this (one might easily say the bulk of people who profess Christianity dispute this); it is commonly taught that we are saved by faith. This belief began because Martin Luther, in his attempt to reform the Catholic Church, which he viewed as having become a religion of works, came to the conclusion that baptism was a work, and that since we are saved by faith and not by works, baptism cannot be for salvation. Therefore, the reasoning goes, we are saved by faith alone.
(Baptism is not a work, in the sense that Paul is speaking of in Romans 3:28. Baptism is the God-instituted means by which he washes a man in the blood of Christ, thus cleansing him of his sin; but if a man does not believe and is baptized, it is of no value to him, for Christ said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Therefore it is not a work, per se, by which any man, believing or not, in submission to it, will have earned his salvation. Rather, God washes a man, when that man, in faith, submits to what he has instructed him to do. We don’t earn salvation when we are baptized; we are washed in the blood of Christ.)
Now, Jesus says, “He who believes and is baptized;” so we have a choice, to believe Luther or to believe Christ. If we are to believe Luther over Christ, this must be shortened to “He who believes will be saved.”
Now, we must not forget Galatians 1:6-9, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”
But let us pass over this for the moment, for the sake of argument, and say that Luther is right. He would have us believe, “He who believes will be saved.” But there is another issue with this, if we are to be consistent in our reasoning (and we must be consistent in our reasoning). Baptism is nowhere spoken of in Scripture as a work; but belief is. John 6:28-29, “Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” If baptism, which is nowhere spoken of as being a work, must be thrown out because Luther declared it a work, then belief, which Christ declares to be a work, must also be thrown out. This cannot be gotten around, if we are to remain consistent in our reasoning, and honest in our interpretation of the Scriptures.
This leaves us with, “He who, will be saved.” Which essentially leaves us with every man being saved, because nothing would be necessary for being saved; but we already know that this isn’t the case.
That it says, “He who…”, implies that “he” does something; that whoever “he” is, he performs an action, for it says, “He who” which means, “He who does this,” whatever that “this” is. And Jesus tells us what that “this” is, namely, “He who believes and is baptized,” therefore, that is what is required of a man who would be saved, namely, belief and baptism.
But let us move on to an examination of the various things that the Scripture says we are saved by.
The blood of Christ
Hebrews 9:11-15 states the following,
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Christ, after he was crucified, entered the true Most Holy Place in heaven, with his own blood as an offering for our sins, for it isn’t possible that sin can be forgiven without blood, “(f)or this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins, and, “…without shedding of blood there is no remission,” Matthew 26:28-29, Heb 9:22.
With this, the following agree,
1 Peter 1:18-19, “(K)nowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Peter says that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ. Redeemed, according to Webster’s dictionary, means, “Ransomed; delivered from bondage, distress, penalty, liability, or from the possession of another, by paying an equivalent.” So we have been ransomed back from our aimless life by the blood of Christ.
Paul goes a step further in his explanation, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,” Ephesians 1:7-8. The redemption which his blood brought, the price that it paid, was the forgiveness of our sins. So it is the blood of Christ which brings about the forgiveness of our sins.
Which is why John says, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” Revelation 1:5. The removal of our sins, their washing away, is accomplished by the blood of Christ.
And again, Paul says, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him,” Romans 5:9.
So then, it is the blood of Christ which truly saves us, as it is the means by which we are washed of our sins.
The question therefore is, how are we initially washed in His blood? Let us examine the rest of what the Word says saves us, that we might determine this.
The gospel saves us
1 Corinthians 15:1-2, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.”
1 Corinthians 1:21, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”
2 Thessalonians 2:10, “(B)ecause they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
We are saved by the gospel, because it is the method by which God has chosen for man to become aware of salvation. It shows the necessity for salvation, the sacrifice necessary for salvation, the means by which to obtain salvation, and the way to walk in order to remain saved. Without the gospel it is impossible for a man to be saved; yet the existence alone of the gospel is not enough for a man to be saved. A man must believe it and obey it for it to have any effect on the man. Therefore, it is not the gospel that washes us in His blood.
Grace saves us
Acts 15:11, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
Ephesians 2:5, “(E)ven when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Romans 3:24, “(B)eing justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 4:16, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.”
Galatians 5:4, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
Ephesians 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
2 Timothy 1:9, “(W)ho has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”
Titus 3:7, “(T)hat having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
2 Thessalonians 2:16, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace.”
That we are saved by grace, deals with that aspect of our salvation that we don’t deserve what He has done for us, in offering salvation; it is unmerited favor on His part. He did not owe us salvation, we did not earn salvation, we could not, of ourselves, obtain salvation; that we have hope at all is because of His grace. He graciously offered us salvation, and provided the means by which we may obtain it. He did not need to do this, and He would be perfectly just if He did not do it. We were hopelessly lost, but before we were even created, He determined that He would extend us this hand of salvation, purely because of His grace. And so, we are saved by grace. But we are not washed in His blood just by the existence of grace.
Hope saves us
Romans 8:24, “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?”
That we are saved by hope, may be best seen in the sufferings of Job, when in a weak moment he said, “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And come to an end without hope,” Job 7:6. Now, he was not truly without hope, for he perservered until the end of his trial. But had he truly been without hope, he would not have continued to wait for his Maker, he would not have persisted in his integrity, but he would have given up hope, and turned away from his faith in the goodness of God. So it is hope which causes us to persevere, for, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him,” Hebrews 11:6. If we didn’t have a hope for the reward, then why would we follow the narrow road of Christianity? But hope does not wash us in the blood of Christ.
Belief saves us
Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Acts 16:31-33, “So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.”
Acts 8:35-38, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’ Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.”
If a man doesn’t believe the truth, he isn’t going to submit himself to it, and if he doesn’t submit himself to it there is no way for him to be pleasing to God, for, “without faith it is impossible to please Him,” Hebrews 11:6, and the world of men outside of Christ are condemned, for, “But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world,” 1 Corinthians 11:32. The natural man will not submit to God, for, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised,” 1 Corinthians 2:14. Without belief, it is impossible for a man to be saved. But belief does not wash a man in the blood of Christ, for, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!” James 2:19. Belief alone is not enough to save a man.
Confession saves us
Romans 10:9-10, “(T)hat 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.”
Acts 8:35-38, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’ Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.”
It isn’t enough to believe in one’s heart that Christ is the sacrifice for our sins, but we have to be willing to confess this before men. I don’t believe this to be a one time thing, either; we must be willing to confess Him whenever the situation presents, and not deny that we believe and hope in Him. The situation with Peter’s denial shows that we can repent of moments of weakness in this regard, but a continual denial of Him will lead to our being lost, for, ““Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven,” Matthew 10:32-33.
But confession alone cannot save us; for he also writes, “and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Confession must be working with belief, as elsewhere belief works together with baptism, and elsewhere baptism works together with repentance. None of these are exclusive of the other, but all must work together to effect our salvation. Baptism alone does not save us, for these other things must also be present, but baptism is where we are washed in the blood of Christ, which is what removes our sins from us.
Calling on the name of the Lord saves us
Acts 2:21, “And it shall come to pass (t)hat whoever calls on the name of the Lord (s)hall be saved.”
Romans 10:12-13, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”
The context of this quote from Joel in Acts will interpret it. It is not meant as a blanket statement, for the statement of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 confirms this, “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” So it isn’t the one who calls on the Lord who is saved, but the one who calls on the Lord and is obedient to what He says who will be saved.
Peter quotes this on Pentecost, in response to those who thought the men speaking in tongues were drunk. Peter quotes Joel, and goes on to convict the men of the death of Jesus. Now when these men are convicted in their hearts, and ask Peter what they should do, he doesn’t tell them to call on the name of the Lord and they will be saved, but tells them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call,” Acts 2:38-39. Calling on the name of the Lord will not save us, but doing as He instructs us, ““Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” will.
When Paul quotes Joel in Romans, he does it to show there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, but whoever would turn to Christ is acceptable to Him.
Repentance saves us
Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Repentance saves us, not because it brings us into contact with the blood of Christ, which it doesn’t, but because if we don’t repent, then we will remain in our sins, continue to sin, which is not being obedient to the Lord, and is not believing, and so then baptism would only be an empty exercise. We have to repent as part of our salvation, but repentance alone does us no good, if our sins have not been remitted.
Baptism saves us
1 Peter 3:21, “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” NASB
Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Acts 22:16, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
Acts 10:47-48, “’Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.”
Acts 16:31-34, “So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”
Titus 3:5, “(N)ot by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 8:35-38, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’ Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.”
Acts 2:38 and 22:16 show us how it is that we are initially washed in the blood of Christ, which is in baptism, for, “…without shedding of blood there is no remission,” Heb 9:22, and we are baptized, “for the remission of sin,” Acts 2:38, and again, Ananias tells Paul, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins,” Acts 22:16, with which John agrees when speaking of Christ, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” Revelation 1:5. Baptism is the mechanism in which God, by His own authority, has chosen to wash us in the blood of Christ.
Faith saves us
Hab 2:3-4, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” Quoted in Hebrews 10:36-39; cf. 2 Peter 3
Luke 7:50, “Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’”
Acts 15:9, “(A)nd made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”
Romans 4:16, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
James 2:14-15, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?”
In Habakkuk, it shows the true nature of how we are saved by faith, as it were. Habakkuk has asked of God why He allows wickedness to abound in Judah, and after God tells him He is going to bring the Chaldeans upon Judah for punishment, he asks why the Chaldeans are allowed to prosper as they do, seeing as how wicked they are. God answers him, foretelling the destruction of the Babylonians. But He begins His answer by telling Habakkuk to wait for it to come to pass, for the time for it is not yet (Habakkuk wrote about 20 or so years before the destruction of Jerusalem, about 100 or so years before the fall of Babylon). He tells him, “Though it tarries, wait for it. Because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” He is told to be patient, to wait for the Lord. Then he is told, “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” In Hebrews, this passage is quoted applying it to the return of Christ. By comparing this with 2 Peter 3:3ff, which speaks of the scoffers who don’t wait for the Lord, but instead say, “Where is the promise of His coming?”, we can see that the just is saved by his faith, because it is by his faith in the promise of the salvation of the Lord that he patiently waits for the return of the Lord, for, “We are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul,” Hebrews 10:39, even as the just would wait for the promise in Habbakuk’s day, and not give up and give themselves over to the wickedness of the day. We are saved by faith, because we believe and trust in His word, all earthly evidence before our eyes to the contrary (for Habakkuk could only see the great wickedness of his day at first; in like manner, Abraham and Sarah were old, beyond the natural ability of childbirth, yet they waited for the promise). We believe that He keeps His promises, and so we wait. And so our faith saves us, whereas the faithless do not wait, but give up and return to their former course. Hebrews 11 gives us all the examples of those who had faith, to teach us to wait for the promise, and it may be summed up in verse 6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
But nowhere are we taught that we are washed in His blood by having faith.
God saves us
2 Timothy 1:8-9, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”
Titus 3:4-7, “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
God saves us, because clearly, this is all from Him. He created us, and the way of salvation. It is He who determined that when we would sin against Him, he would have the way of salvation in place.
Jesus saves us
Matthew 1:21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
John 10:9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
Romans 5:10, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Jesus saves us, in that it was His sacrifice, His blood that was shed, that brought to fruition the plan of salvation which God the Father conceived.
The purpose of baptism is for the remission of sins, Acts 2:38. This is accomplished because this is the method by which God has chosen to wash us in the blood of Christ, Acts 22:16. This is confirmed in Romans chapter 6:3-4,7, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life…For he who has died has been freed from sin.” If it is the one who has died who has been freed from sin, and it is in baptism that we die, then we cannot be saved without being baptized, for without it, we are still in our sins, and therefore, that alone is the way in which we are washed in the blood of Christ.