Salvation Is of the Lord, article by Ps George Skariah

Salvation Is of the LORD!

Salvation of a sinner is completely the work of the Triune God, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. No sinner can ever become a child of God by anything that he has done. But he simply cling on to the work Jesus Christ has done on his behalf. The Apostle Paul succinctly states this truth in Romans 11:36, For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. Someone explains this in the following way, “salvation is God determined, God purchased, God applied, and God secured.”

Ephesians 1:1-14

The Apostle Paul explains this in Ephesians 1:1-14. Paul here states that God the Father has elected us unto salvation before the foundation of the world. In verses 3-5 he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Then, God the Son has redeemed us by His blood. In verse 7 Paul says, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. And finally, the Holy Spirit has applied the salvation unto us. In verse 13 he says, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise. In other words, the Father God is the Author of our salvation, the Son God is the Accomplisher of our salvation, and finally the Spirit God is the Applier of our salvation. The chief purpose of all these is the glory of God. In this passage Paul mentions this three times: in verse 6, “to the praise of the glory of his grace;” in verse 12, “to the praise of his glory;” and finally in verse 14, “unto the praise of his glory.”

Romans 8:28-39

God’s people are the ones who are “the called according to His purpose” (v 28). Our responsibility is to “love God,” that is to respond to Him in faith and a committed life. God has predestinated certain people whom He foreknew. The word “predestinate” means “marked out in advance,” or “determined or appointed beforehand.” This means, prior to creation, God appointed those who would respond to the gospel preached. The word “foreknowledge” means is not simple prescience or advance knowledge, but “bringing into a special relation with,” as “Adam knew Eve his wife” (Gen 4:1). In Amos 3:2, YHWH says of Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Jesus says in John 10:14, “I . . . know my sheep,” and in Matt 7:23, “I never knew you.” “Foreknowledge is” therefore, “God’s determination from eternity to bring certain ones into a special relationship with Himself.” God has an active delight toward certain people whom He wants to show His divine mercy. Jacob was such a person, but his brother Esau never found such a divine mercy (Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:10-18).

Then Paul goes on to say in Romans 8:30, Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. This is called the salvation chain. Those whom God predestinated to be His children because of His active delight toward them, He then effectually called them. God, by His divine sovereignty, called (pretemporal, means it occurred before the creation of the world, verse 28, Eph 1:4) some to be His chosen ones. The calling in verse 30 is temporal and effectual calling, means to those whom God called pretemporal, now He effectually communicates the gospel, and they respond to it, resulting in their salvation. To those whom He effectually called, them He justifies, and to them He justifies, He glorifies them. Hence, our salvation is a chain, and it begins with God and ends with God. This chain cannot be broken. In verse 31, Paul therefore asks, What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

The Doctrines of Grace

This doctrine of salvation is known in the Reformed theology as the doctrines of grace and succinctly summarized with the word TULIP:

T – Total Depravity of Man

U – Unconditional Election

L – Limited Atonement

I – Irresistible Grace

P – Perseverance of the Saints

Total Depravity of Man

Man in his natural state is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Because of the fall in Adam, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is spiritually dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt (Rom 5:12-20; 1 Cor 15:21-22). Therefore he will not and cannot choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. As a result it takes the assistance of the Spirit of God through regeneration to bring a sinner to Christ. The Shorter Catechism Q 16 asks: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression? The answer is: The covenant being made with Adam not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.

Unconditional Election

God the Father has sovereignly chosen those who will be saved (Eph 1:4-7; Titus 3:4-7). God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely on His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response or obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause, of God’s choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Holy Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus God’s choice of the sinner, and not the sinner’s choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation. The Shorter Catechism Q 20 asks: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? The answer is: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer.

Limited Atonement

The Lord Jesus Christ died for all whom the Father had given to Him, and for them only. His death, in its effect, was substitutionary. He died for the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners, although in its sufficiency, it was offered to the whole sinful mankind. In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ’s redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including faith which unites them to Him. Some of the passages that deal with this truth are: 2 Cor 5:14; John 11:50; Rom 5:8; 1 Thess 5:10; 1 Pet 2:21; 1 John 3:16; Matt 1:21; John 10:11; Rom 8:33-34).

Irresistible Grace

The Holy Spirit sovereignly and effectually applies salvation to the elect of God. If men were left to depend upon their own strength and ability at any point in the process of salvation, none could be saved. But such is not the case. The Reformed faith teaches that which Jesus prayed, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37), and that which Jesus affirmed, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:44). It is here that we see the saving work of the Holy Spirit. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit (Shorter Catechism Q 29). The Spirit does so by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Q 30). The Scripture passages that teach this doctrine are: John 1:12-13; 3:5-6; Tit 3:5-6; Eph 2:8; John 15:5; 1 Cor 1:9; 1 Pet 5:10, etc.

Perseverance of the Saints

This doctrine teaches that those who are truly saved will never be lost. All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit of God are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end. The Shorter Catechism teaches, The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are: assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end (Q 36). Following are the passages that deal with this doctrine: John 6:39; 10:28; Phil 1:6; Rom 5:1, 2, 5; Col 1:10-11; 1 Pet 1:5; Jude 1; Rev 14:12.