God…has saved us and called us to a holy life… (2 Timothy 1:9)
“God has saved us and called us to a holy life” – what a succinct and appropriate statement on what it means to be Christians. The idea of salvation is essential. Some Christians have used words like “saved” and “salvation” so often and so thoughtlessly that they have forgotten what they mean. They have become sounds without significance. Or, if they have any meaning at all, they have been so diluted that “Have you been saved?” is now the equivalent of “Have you signed up for the golf tournament?” It is something that is important, but still casual, subject to leisurely reflection.
Salvation is a serious word. It presupposes danger and desperation. You do not softly say to a drowning man, “Why don’t you come out of the water?” or “Would you care to join us for dinner, and have some fellowship?” No, salvation is rescue. It implies necessity. You need this salvation. It is not an indifferent thing or a matter of preference. It means that a person will remain in a negative condition or suffer some negative consequence if he is not taken out of his present situation. In our context, this negative condition is man’s guilt before God – that is, not only a guilty conscience for having done something wrong, but a guilty verdict for being wrong and having done wrong. The negative consequence is the wrath of God, that man would suffer alienation and rejection from God in this life, and endless hellfire in the life to come. God saves some people from this, and places them in an altogether different realm.
In addition, the idea of salvation gives credit to the one who performs the rescue, not to the one who has been rescued. So to ask someone “Have you been saved?” should bear an entirely different connotation than “Have you signed up for church?” It is not whether you have done something, but whether God has done something for you and to you in order to save you. This salvation that we need and that is performed by God forever characterizes our relationship with him, and it is to remain in the forefront of our theology and preaching.
To be saved in the biblical sense is to be rescued from something disgusting and terrible – life as a non-Christian. God extracts some people from the non-Christian life and installs them, not into a neutral condition or a mere immunity from condemnation, but into a superior life and destiny. We are not saved by a holy life, but called to a holy life. Thus Christians are not the same as non-Christians, although free from condemnation. We are different. If we are true and growing Christians, then we are a holy people, a people of insight and knowledge, of love and kindness, of faith and power, and of uncompromising truth. This is an integral aspect of our salvation, that God has not only saved us from something, but he has also called us to something. A complete gospel ministry must teach the full range of God’s actions and blessings in salvation.
As Christians, we are familiar with the idea that it is Christ who purchased salvation for us by his death on the cross. He acted on our behalf, as our champion and representative. And he died in our place for our sins, so that we might be free from condemnation. Then, he was vindicated by his resurrection, and secured for us justification before God. Nevertheless, only those who are joined to him are saved by him, and this bond or relation with Christ is manifested in faith. Scripture defines this faith in definite and inflexible terms. To have faith in Christ is to believe that he died for my sins – not just because of my sins, but to pay for my sins. I show myself to be a Christian only if I have faith in this specific sense. All Christians agree with this, and those who disagree with this are not Christians. They are unsaved – they remain under sin and condemnation, and their destiny is everlasting hellfire.