Objection:
You teach that it is deceptive either to believe or to say that one who accepts Christ as his Redeemer is saved. However, the gospel teaches that believers “are saved” by “the preaching of the cross” (See 1 Corinthians 1:18). It teaches that God “has saved us, and called us with an holy calling” (2 Timothy 1:9). To say that a born-again soul does not have salvation as “a present possession” is to proclaim a false gospel. You make salvation a matter of “crucify self,” “prove worthy,” “struggle.” This proves that you preach a legalistic false gospel.
Answer:
Many Christians use the word “saved” to describe a mistaken idea of salvation, not in the sense that Paul employs it in 2 Timothy 1:9, which the objector quotes. Through the long years of Christian history, there have been those who held the unScriptural view that when Christ saves us from our past sins, He immediately and forever lifts us into a kind of heaven on earth from which there is no possibility of our ever straying. Thus we are here and now and forever saved, saved, saved! At best, such a view of salvation has ever led men to spiritual pride—”God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are.” At worst, it has led men in their blind spiritual self-sufficiency and false security to fall into the most heinous sin.
This false conception of being “saved” is what we, and Christian leaders in general through the years, have denounced. Yet, there is a sense in which the Christian may say that he has been “saved.” When we confess our guilt and turn to Christ, He forgives us, saves us out of our state of condemnation, and places our feet on the path to heaven. We believe this wholeheartedly!
We accept all that the Bible says about our being saved here and now from past guilt and thus standing justified through the blood of Christ. But we also accept all that the Bible says about the dangers that beset us on the sacred path upon which our feet have been placed and the need for constant watchfulness unto prayer to reach the heavenly goal.
Paul is often quoted to prove that salvation is a present accomplished fact for those who have given heed to the gospel: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18. But let Paul speak further in the same epistle: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-2. Adam Clarke comments on this text:
“By which also ye are saved” – That is, ye are now in a salvable state; and are saved from your Gentilism, and from your former sins.
“If ye keep in memory” – Your future salvation, or being brought finally to glory, will now depend on your faithfulness to the grace that ye have received.
That is sound doctrine on salvation! Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, in their well-known Bible commentary, would have the phrase “ye are saved” (1 Corinthians 15:2) read instead, “ye are being saved.” So also Lange’s excellent commentary. This is consistent with the Bible figure of the Christian traveling a road, strait and tortuous, who may ever claim the protection of the angels against the danger of falling off the path, but who can never say that temptation and danger are past until the end of the journey is reached. Thinking of the Christian under that figure, we may rightly speak of him as in the process of “being saved.” No load of guilt weighs him down. From that, Christ has freed him. But he has not been released from the risk of sin, which again would bring guilt to his soul. He may still turn to one side or the other from the path.
It is in this setting that we see full force to the words Paul addressed to Timothy: “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 1 Timothy 4:16. Here Paul is using the word “save” in the future tense. And salvation is assured only if Timothy shall “continue” in a particular course.
Again, Paul says to Timothy: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12.
To the church at Corinth, Paul wrote: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
We have never said anything more vigorous about the struggle and the warfare of the Christian life than Paul here does. Indeed, in no small part, what we say is drawn from such statements as these by the great apostle.
The Scriptures are also filled with exhortations to Christians to remain steadfast lest they fall by the way and lose their reward. Says Paul, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” Hebrews 10:23. A little further on in the same chapter, he appeals, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.” Verse 35. In the book of the Revelation, we find a prophecy of the history of the Christian church from the time of Christ to the Second Advent, under seven divisions or churches. After the message to each church, a promise of heavenly reward is given, but the reward is specifically promised: “to him that overcometh.” (See Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21.) To the first church (Ephesus) came the warning: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Revelation 2:5. To the third church (Pergamos) came the same warning, “Repent” (Verse 16). Likewise to the seventh church (Laodicea) (See Revelation 3:19). To the fifth church (Sardis) came the appeal: “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.” Revelation 2:25. To the sixth church (Philadelphia) came a similar appeal: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Revelation 3:11.
How could a Bible writer make more clear the sobering truth that those who have been saved from their past sins and have taken the name of Christian may fall by the wayside? Note the appeal to those who have not fallen to “hold fast” lest they also fail. All this agrees with the caution of Paul to the Corinthian church: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12. It is evident that salvation in the ultimate sense of the word is not the possession of the Christian until he has finished his course and has kept the faith to the end. Said Christ, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:13.
The strength of the objector’s position is that he narrows down the discussion of salvation to one aspect of it, and in that restricted setting, makes his case seem Scriptural. The strength of our position is that we accept fully and unreservedly all the aspects of the divine plan to save men out of this world.
