The Gospel, Part II

How is a human saved?

I was originally (falsely) taught that salvation was about five points (this is according to the Church of Christ denomination): 1) to hear, 2) to believe, 3) to call on the Name of Christ, 4) to repent, 5) to be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now, none of these things are bad in and of themselves. In fact, the first three were right! Romans 10:9 says,

“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a
person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will
not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek
(or Gentiles); for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who
call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they
believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful
are the feet of those who bring good news of good things” (NASB, underlines mine)!

Faith comes through hearing and the preaching of the Word. But, now let’s look at the other two. To repent (Greek μετάνοια or metanoia) literally means “mind-change.” It’s a changing of your mind. What change is being referred to? The way that you look at things. The way that you look at God and His Creation. The way that you see things like immorality, crime, what “beauty” is, what this world needs, what your life mission should be from then on. That change of mind, inevitably leads to a change in your heart. But, some would say, “We need to preach more on repentance! People these days are going wild and out of control!” I do think that people need to repent more these days, but preaching on repentance will not produce repentance. According to Paul, it is God’s kindness that leads to repentance (Rom 2:4). Taken from a website, we read:

“A law mind-set emphasizes what people must do (turn or burn), but grace proclaims
what God has already done (everything). A law mindset uses inferior incentives
(fear, judgment) that lead to temporary changes in behavior, but the grace of God
melts the hardest heart. If you want people to genuinely repent, proclaim the
goodness of God (Rom 2:4).”
 
(Source: https://escapetoreality.org/2010/11/06/under-law-1-7/)

Baptism was necessary in those days as one of the first acts of public faith. It was basically being initiated in a type of club. Is it necessary today? I no longer believe so. Much more important is proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and living by it! It is important to remember, also, that God called us into service. We didn’t choose Him, He chose us! God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus” (1Tim 1:9, NASB, italics and underline mine).

Jesus also said that to be His disciple, we must leave our old life behind. He said that “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14:26-27, NASB). Is He telling us to hate our own families? No, of course not. He is simply saying that, as followers, we are to put Him first! He knew, and also said, that He would not bring peace, but a sword (Mt 19:34). Families and communities would be divided over this one man. And men and women would betray their own unto death for Him.

But, He does give us some encouragement, when He told His disciples, ““Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come” (Mk 10:29). We will get new families and new communities. He confirms this in Mk 3:31,

“Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to
Him and called Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him,
“Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” 33 Answering
them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34 Looking about at those who
were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! 35 For
whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother” (NASB).

So, it does require sacrifice. But, the most important part is the foundation that Christ laid down. Everything else flows from there. The Apostle Paul, God’s apostle to the Gentiles, was adamant about spreading an accurate evangel! Faith does come by hearing. However, hearing is not enough! We hear things all the time, even in churches – it doesn’t mean it’s true. We need to get the right message. We need to rightly divide scripture. I don’t care what men say, I want to know and follow what God says! Gal 1:6 - “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be [anathema]!” (NASB). After hearing, comes belief. After hearing the right message, you must believe it. Col 1:3 -

“We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for
you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have
for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which
you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you,
just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing,
even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood 
the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved
fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and
he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason also, since
the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you
may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to
 please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in
the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious
might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the
saints in Light” (NASB, underlines mine).