Not "Salvation Then?" but "Salvation Now?"

Earlier this year I taught a series at our church on Salvation. We explored what the Bible teaches us about the nature of salvation -- grace, repentence, forgiveness, new life. We discussed how the biblical picture of salvation is centered on an interactive knowledge of God: He knows us, and we have been enabled to know Him.

Check out these Scripture passages:

Jeremiah 24:7
John 10:14 the knowledge goes both ways
John 17:3 eternal life is knowing the only true God
1 Cor 1:9 called into fellowship with the Lord (not the same word, but the same idea – a personal, interactive relationship with God)
Philippians 3:7-10 surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, and “I want to know Christ.”
1 John 2:4
Matthew 7:23 -- the “I never knew you” is the same meaning.

We also spent some time examining the historical views of Arminianism and Calvinism. (The Evangelical Free Church of America does not take a position on that debate, so our discussion was to examine the Bible passages and review both positions. I believe it's important to study this, and to have personal convictions, but I will not break fellowship whose views settle differently than mine.)

In the course of that class a number of people wanted to speak with me privately about their own faith history. Several seemed defensive and told me that they had been saved as a child, or long ago. I think the questions around eternal security prompted some concern in their hearts.

After a couple of these conversations, I realized that they were focusing on the past in the wrong way. It's not a question of "I was saved then." You may have been, you might not have been. Our hearts and minds have ways of deceiving us. We simply cannot be sure.

The real issue, if you're reading this, is to ask "Am I saved today? Do I have a life-transforming relationship with Jesus today?"

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test." (2 Cor 13:5-6)


When it comes to our salvation, we dare not put our trust in some past experience. We dare not put our trust in head-knowledge or feelings alone. We put our trust in Jesus, and the faithful promises of the Lord.