One of the core beliefs of Christianity can be stated as follows:
Each person who responds to God’s grace and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ by confession of sin, remorse, repentance, faith and obedience receives the great gift of salvation. Each person who resists God’s grace is condemned to everlasting punishment.
- Each person who responds to God’s grace and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ by
- confession of sin (Ps 32:3-5; 1 John 1:8-10),
- remorse (Ps 66:18; Luke 18:13),
- repentance (Mat 3:8; Rom 12:2, 13:14; Eph 4:23-24; Rev 2:5, 16, 3:3, 19),
- faith (John 6:29, 3:16-17; Acts 16:31; Eph 2:8-10) and
- obedience (Mat 28:20; Luke 11:28; John 14:15; Rom 1:5, 6:16; Heb 5:9)
- receives the great gift of salvation (Acts 4:12; Rom 1:16; 2 Cor 7:10; 1 Thes 5:9; Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 1:9, 18-19).
- Each person who resists God’s grace is condemned to everlasting punishment (Mat 25:46; 2 Thes 1:8-9).
The salvation of man, which comes by the substitutionary atonement, has many facets including but not limited to:
- Redemption (Rom 3:24; 8:23) - You are freed from the bondage of sin for the first time in your life.
- Forgiveness (Mat 6:9-15; 1 John 1:8-10) – You are forgiven your sins by God.
- Justification (Rom 3:21-26) – You are declared righteous by God; this legal declaration is valid because Christ died to pay the penalty for your sin and lived a life of perfect righteousness that can in turn be imputed to you.
- Adoption (Rom 3:23; Gal 3:26; 1 John 3:2) – You are a joint heir with Jesus to the Kingdom of God.
- Regeneration (John 3:1-21) - The Holy Spirit makes known to you the will of God and helps you discern truth from lie. He occupies and purifies all the rooms of your heart into which He is invited. For the first time in your life you are not a prisoner of sin. You are free to pursue the path of righteousness. This is the first day of your Christian life and you are a new creature in Christ. This is the mechanism of your redemption.
- Sanctification (Heb 6:1; 1 Pet 1:13-16) - You are led by the Holy Spirit along the path toward holiness; this is a lifetime journey.
- Reconciliation (Eph 2:11-22) - You are reconciled with all other believers.
- Unification (Eph 3:1-11) – You are united with all believers in the Church of Jesus Christ.
- Glorification (Rom 8:30) – You will complete the journey along the path of sanctification when your mission in this life is done.
But, in many churches, confession of sin, remorse and repentance are of little or no importance. The preacher seldom mentions sin. Instead, he tells you, “Jesus loves you just the way you are!” He says, “Just invite Jesus into your heart and you will be saved; nothing more is required.”
Unfortunately, for many contemporary preachers, there is no place in the Bible where a non-believer is instructed to ask Jesus into his/her heart to achieve salvation. In other words, no place in the Bible says that, if you ask Jesus into your heart, you will be saved. But, unfortunately, this non-Biblical tactic has grown to become the norm because it is so easy and user friendly compared to the requirement that you must confess your sin nature and behavior, have remorse in your heart and repent!
The crucifixion must be regarded not merely as an occurrence brought about by mere circumstances, but as the great end for which Jesus Christ came into the world; the motive for the atonement is found in the love of God. Scriptures regard the suffering and death of Christ as a propitiation (1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10; Rom 3:25), a redemption (Rom 3:24; Gal 3:13; Eph 1:7) and a reconciliation (Rom 5:10-11; 2 Cor 5:18-19; Col 1:20-22). Jesus was the propitiation which calmed the wrath of God and atoned for the sin of man. He redeemed or bought back each of our souls from the bondage of sin and He allowed God and man to reconcile. In the context of scripture, salvation means salvation from the bondage of sin.
In the 200-year-old words of Richard Watson, the first Methodist theologian after John Wesley:
"…the preparatory process, which leads to regeneration, as it leads to pardon, commences with conviction and contrition, and goes on to a repentant turning to the Lord. In the order which God has established, regeneration does not take place without this process. Conviction of the evil and danger of an unregenerate state must first be felt." (Watson, v2, p 267)
Conviction comes from the Greek elenchus, which means to convince someone of the truth; to reprove; to accuse, refute, or cross-examine. In other words, when the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin, only then have you confessed your sin to God. Next, contrition means to feel remorse or feel the great burden of sorrow and regret for the consequences of your sin.
Conviction, contrition and repentance cannot be replaced by: just invite Jesus into your heart! This is also discussed in Section 8.14 of Theology Corner.
