Apologetic Tract Salvation
Salvation
Salvation is an important issue, or should be,
for everyone. In fact, of all the
issues, it is the most important in our lives: whether we will be with God in
eternity and for all eternity or not.
Sometimes, we become more involved in other things and forget this most
important fact of our existence. I was created by God to know, love and serve
him, and be with him forever.
Let me begin by stating some basic beliefs of
our faith:
(1) Our salvation begins in the mind of
God. "God wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth." (2
Timothy 2:4)
(2) Everyone needs salvation. "All
men have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23)
(3) Our salvation is accomplished in,
through and by Jesus Christ. "All men are now undeservedly justified by
the gift of God, through the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus. Through His
blood, God made Him the means of expiation for all who believe." (Rom
3:24-25)
(4) Salvation is a gratuitous gift from
God. We cannot merit or earn it in any way. "It is owing to His favor that
salvation is yours through faith. This is not your own doing; it is God's gift;
neither is it a reward for anything you have accomplished, so let no one pride
himself on it." (Eph 2:8-9)
(5) The sign of God's redeeming love is
first experienced in the Sacrament of Baptism. "You are now saved by a
baptismal bath which corresponds to this exactly. This baptism is no removal of
physical stain, but the pledge to God of an irreproachable conscience through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (1 Pet 3:21)
(6) Water baptism is the general norm by
which we begin our walk with the Lord.
"The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that
assures entry into eternal beatitude" (Catechism of the Catholic Church
#1257). But God is not limited. We believe that many people who lived before
the death and resurrection of Jesus as well as many people, who through no
fault of their own never had an opportunity of water baptism, are saved by
Jesus. "Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his
Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding
of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired
Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity." (CCC # 1260)
(7) The gift of salvation calls for a
response once we have reached the age of reason. "For if you confess with
your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. Faith in the heart leads to justification;
confession on the lips to salvation. (Rom 10:9-10)
(8) This response involves faith - acceptance
of Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives. For adults, this is preceded by
repentance for personal sin. For an infant, this is the faith of the parents
and the worshiping community to be handed down to the person until he or she
is able to make his or her personal response to Jesus' gift.
Let me recap:
Jesus has saved us through His death and resurrection.
He personalized this gift of salvation through the Sacrament of Baptism, i.e.,
I, at that moment, experienced and shared in the death and resurrection of
Jesus in my life. From that event on, I
am in the process of salvation. This process involves my faith-acceptance of
Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Doing this means more than just saying words
or going through mere external actions.
Rather, this commitment of my life to Jesus — this decision of the heart
and mind — involves doing the will of the Father. It entails moving from the domination of sin
in my life to giving Jesus full control. "You must lay aside your former
way of life and the old self which deteriorates through illusion and desire, and
acquire a fresh, spiritual way of thinking. You must put on that new man
created in God's image, whose justice and holiness are born of
truth." (Eph 4:22-24) This is a
lifetime process.
As a gift, salvation is already and not yet:
already, because of Jesus; not yet, because of me. This is what Paul means when
he says: "work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation." (Phil
2: 12) We don't earn salvation; but we must respond to the gift by growing in
holiness, by living in a real relationship with God.
There is enough evidence in Scripture to show
that I can never presume I am saved. Some people feel that since Jesus saved
them, no matter what they did or did not do, they will be saved. Scripture does
not bear this out. Read 1 Cor 15: 1-2;
9:27; Hebrews 6:4-6.
Only if I continue to grow in my daily walk
with the Lord, only if I choose God's ways, only if I remain faithful to the
gift of salvation and persevere in my decision of commitment, can I hope to
experience the full salvation. "In hope we were saved. But hope is not
hope if its object is seen; how is it possible for one to hope for what he
sees? And hoping for what we cannot see
means a-waiting it with patient endurance.” (Rom 8: 24-25)
This completion of salvation comes when, at
death, I am in relationship with Jesus.
From the time I first experienced the gift of salvation in baptism until
the moment I see Jesus face to face, my attitude should be what Paul reflects
in his letter to the Philippians:
“It is not that I have already taken hold of
it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope
that I may possess it, since I have indeed taken possession of by Christ
(Jesus). Brothers, I for my part do not
consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to
what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s
upward calling, in Christ Jesus. Let us,
then, who are “perfectly mature” adopt this attitude. And if you have a different attitude, this
too God will reveal to you. Only, with regard to what we have attained,
continue on the same course.” (Phil 3: 12-16)
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