The simplest understanding of salvation is being saved from eternal punishment.
This is true. Salvation from judgement is based on acceptance or rejection of Jesus. When I believe that Jesus’ death on the cross paid for my sin, and I accept God’s gift, then the penalty of sin is settled. I will not face condemnation or judgment.
So when you think about judgement, only think about what you believe about Jesus. Whether or not we receive the penalty of sin is based completely on our belief about Jesus. This is legal or judicial salvation. But, “forgiveness of sin” is not the whole Gospel. Salvation according to the Bible is so much more.
The Bible talks about a second way that we are saved from sin. We are saved from the control of sin. We used to be slaves to sin; we had to obey sin. And we were experiencing the deadly results of it every day. But God has set us free! He has given us salvation from slavery. Romans 6:17-18 says, “You used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Romans 6:20 says, “When you were slaves to sin you were free from the control of righteousness.” And Romans 6:22 says, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God.” If you believe that sin is good for you, then this may not sound like good news, but if you believe that sin leads to the death and destruction of your soul, then salvation from the control of sin is very good news!
We all believe many lies. Some of yours may be:
No one loves me.
I am not worth anything.
Someone’s love will give me value.
God does not care about me.
God cannot forgive me.
Money will give me happiness and security.
I don’t need people.
I need to be perfect to be acceptable.
Lies go against the truth of who we are and who God is, and therefore they are sin. Lies lead to more sin. Sin destroys our lives. But God wants to rescue us from sin. He wants to breathe truth into us and give us Life.
I have been freed from so many of these lies, but I still have so many more to defeat. This is what it means to fight evil. I think that is the work of participating in our salvation beginning now. These lies are sin that is still lingering after the forgiveness has been granted. We are no longer slaves to these lies. We can be free from them, but it will take reliance on God and receiving his truth. Salvation from sin’s daily control, is the ongoing work of fighting evil by believing truth. God doesn’t do this by himself, this is the part that we have to participate in. This is how we grow in our own ability to live according to our design. This is the process of sanctification. When we are reborn in Christ we are positionally righteous, and it is not based on our works, but it will take a while to learn how to be “actually” righteous.
We have been set free from the control of sin but that doesn’t mean that we are free from the influence of sin. We are still in a spiritual battle. That is why we are told in First Peter 5:8-9, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him.” And we are told in Ephesians 6:11 to “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” We have collected a lifetime of lies to believe, we will not conquer them in one day or even one year. It will take a lot of battle in the spirit with the power of truth on our side to uncover and defeat them.
Experiencing redemption from the penalty of sin is definitely a gift to celebrate, but when we experience the truth of God’s love, unconditional acceptance, unmerited favor, compassion, and kindness, it’s even better. We experience this when we snip our ties of dependence from everything else and depend on God alone. He catches us. He fills us full of Life. When we experience freedom from the bondage of sin and all of its lies, it’s so freeing. It is like a second salvation. Each new encounter with truth, and the falling away of another death-producing-lie, is like a new salvation. The biggest salvation is knowing and accepting the truth of God’s love for you.
The cross was motivated out of love- not anger, I think many people miss that. We see God as judge, and He is. He had to judge sin, but it is finished. Now, we only experience Him as “Father”, not “Judge”. We are His beloved children. We need to spend time getting refilled by His abundant love.
So we don’t let go of sin because we fear losing our salvation, or God’s acceptance (although that would not happen anyway) but because we want Life, not death. Life is being restored to who you were created to be, restored to your original design. Think about what happens when a computer gets a virus. The computer no longer functions the way it should and if you don’t eradicate the virus, eventually you get the “blue screen of death”. It is the same with us, when we allow sin in by believing lies, we begin functioning in ways that destroy our lives. We begin to die, but when we eradicate the lies and become dependent on our Source again, we come back to Life.
Salvation should communicate a bigger picture than to just “stop being bad and be good”. It should communicate the importance of coming back to the Life that God created us for; Life as God designed it to work. Jesus did not die to make us into “good people”, he died to give us Life. When we return to dependence on God as the Source, we benefit from experiencing Life as God created it to be. Turning from our sin is not just a means to escape condemnation, it is the way back to Life.
