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This is the most important topic of all, and yet so many people are confused about what Salvation is. I also have been
unclear in the past about what it entails because of so many teachings that are emphasized by different denominations.
When I was going to college I had 2 Jehovah's Witnesses come to my house. Over the course of a few weeks I heard what they had to say about what it took to be saved and was incredulous at how anyone could get that far off in left field by listening to others teaching. I tried to reason with them by showing them that the scripture they were using was clearly being taken out of context while they were throwing away the obvious scripture that was relevant. It was incredulous how misled a person can get by listening to others teachings and not studying for themselves. I wondered to myself if my theology could have been influenced by man made teachings.
Since most of what I had been taught about salvation had come from the letters of Paul, I decided to compile everything Jesus, The Author of Salvation, had to say about it and see what the final authority was.
I listed out each thing Jesus said about the subject and what I ended up with looked like a jumble of scriptures that seemed unrelated and even appeared to conflict with each other. I asked God to make this seemingly incoherent teaching clear to me.
As I continued to study these verses 3 basic categories jumped out at me; Belief, Obedience and Total Commitment. Each thing that Jesus taught about salvation fit into one of these.
This made all of these random scriptures come together into one unified theme and made clear to me what Jesus requires to enter the Kingdom and what he expects of us as we follow him.
Most churches latch onto one side of the teachings of Jesus and ignore the other scriptures. You are taking a very dangerous path whenever you minimalize anything Christ tells us. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death".
It is not for us to judge Christ and whether his teachings should be followed, we should only judge ourselves and whether we are following his teachings.
Here are some of Christ's own words about salvation.
Belief
John 3:16 (NLT)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 5:24 (NLT)
"I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
John 11:25 (NLT)
Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.
John 20:31 (NLT)
But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life.
Mark 16:16 (NLT)
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
Obedience
Matthew 7:21 (NLT)
"Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as 'Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:24 (NLT)
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
Matthew 12:50 (NLT)
Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!"
Matthew 19:17 (NLT)
"Why ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "Only God is good. But to answer your question, you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments."
John 10:25 (NLT)
Jesus replied, "I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is what I do in the name of my Father.
John 14:21 (NLT)
Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them."
John 15:4-5 (NLT)
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.
[5] "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:10 (NLT) When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love.
Total Commitment
Matthew 10:37-39 (NLT)
If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. [38] If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. [39] If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.
Matthew 13:44-46 (NLT)
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field and to get the treasure, too!
[45] "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. [46] When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
Matthew 16:24-25 (NLT)
Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. [25] If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.
Matthew 19:21 (NLT)
Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Luke 9:62 (NLT)
But Jesus told him, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God."
This doesn't mean just glancing back, it means looking back continually and not watching where you are going. In the days when they had to use oxen or horses to plow, they would have to watch a point in the distance(a tree, rock or something similar) and drive the team towards that point in order to keep a straight line. If they didn't keep focused on the one point in the distance and were looking around at other things the lines would be crooked and the plowing would be useless and have to be redone.
Luke 14:26-33 (NLT)
"If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. [27] And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
[28] "But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills? [29] Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. And then how everyone would laugh at you! [30] They would say, 'There's the person who started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!'
[31] "Or what king would ever dream of going to war without first sitting down with his counselors and discussing whether his army of ten thousand is strong enough to defeat the twenty thousand soldiers who are marching against him? [32] If he is not able, then while the enemy is still far away, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace. [33] So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.
John 12:24-26 (NLT)
The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be alone a single seed. But its death will produce many new kernels a plentiful harvest of new lives. [25] Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who despise their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] All those who want to be my disciples must come and follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And if they follow me, the Father will honor them.
When I was going to college I had 2 Jehovah's Witnesses come to my house. Over the course of a few weeks I heard what they had to say about what it took to be saved and was incredulous at how anyone could get that far off in left field by listening to others teaching. I tried to reason with them by showing them that the scripture they were using was clearly being taken out of context while they were throwing away the obvious scripture that was relevant. It was incredulous how misled a person can get by listening to others teachings and not studying for themselves. I wondered to myself if my theology could have been influenced by man made teachings.
Since most of what I had been taught about salvation had come from the letters of Paul, I decided to compile everything Jesus, The Author of Salvation, had to say about it and see what the final authority was.
I listed out each thing Jesus said about the subject and what I ended up with looked like a jumble of scriptures that seemed unrelated and even appeared to conflict with each other. I asked God to make this seemingly incoherent teaching clear to me.
As I continued to study these verses 3 basic categories jumped out at me; Belief, Obedience and Total Commitment. Each thing that Jesus taught about salvation fit into one of these.
This made all of these random scriptures come together into one unified theme and made clear to me what Jesus requires to enter the Kingdom and what he expects of us as we follow him.
Most churches latch onto one side of the teachings of Jesus and ignore the other scriptures. You are taking a very dangerous path whenever you minimalize anything Christ tells us. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death".
It is not for us to judge Christ and whether his teachings should be followed, we should only judge ourselves and whether we are following his teachings.
Here are some of Christ's own words about salvation.
Belief
John 3:16 (NLT)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 5:24 (NLT)
"I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
John 11:25 (NLT)
Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.
John 20:31 (NLT)
But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life.
Mark 16:16 (NLT)
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
Obedience
Matthew 7:21 (NLT)
"Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as 'Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:24 (NLT)
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
Matthew 12:50 (NLT)
Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!"
Matthew 19:17 (NLT)
"Why ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "Only God is good. But to answer your question, you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments."
John 10:25 (NLT)
Jesus replied, "I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is what I do in the name of my Father.
John 14:21 (NLT)
Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them."
John 15:4-5 (NLT)
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.
[5] "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:10 (NLT) When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love.
Total Commitment
Matthew 10:37-39 (NLT)
If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. [38] If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. [39] If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.
Matthew 13:44-46 (NLT)
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field and to get the treasure, too!
[45] "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. [46] When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
Matthew 16:24-25 (NLT)
Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. [25] If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.
Matthew 19:21 (NLT)
Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Luke 9:62 (NLT)
But Jesus told him, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God."
This doesn't mean just glancing back, it means looking back continually and not watching where you are going. In the days when they had to use oxen or horses to plow, they would have to watch a point in the distance(a tree, rock or something similar) and drive the team towards that point in order to keep a straight line. If they didn't keep focused on the one point in the distance and were looking around at other things the lines would be crooked and the plowing would be useless and have to be redone.
Luke 14:26-33 (NLT)
"If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. [27] And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
[28] "But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills? [29] Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. And then how everyone would laugh at you! [30] They would say, 'There's the person who started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!'
[31] "Or what king would ever dream of going to war without first sitting down with his counselors and discussing whether his army of ten thousand is strong enough to defeat the twenty thousand soldiers who are marching against him? [32] If he is not able, then while the enemy is still far away, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace. [33] So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.
John 12:24-26 (NLT)
The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be alone a single seed. But its death will produce many new kernels a plentiful harvest of new lives. [25] Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who despise their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] All those who want to be my disciples must come and follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And if they follow me, the Father will honor them.
Salvation According To Jesus