Salvation and the Work of Christ

In our Church Plant we are currently in the process of putting together our doctrinal statement. We have been asking and answering various kinds of questions about all the major doctrines instead of cutting and pasting from others. We feel that doctrine is the most important part of any church, for from true doctrine flows true sanctification, love, service, fellowship, and spiritual growth. Below are a few questions about Salvation and the work of Christ and what it means to Grace Community Church. There are certainly more, but these provide a sample of the kinds of things we are talking about.

Q: Why do we need to be saved? What are we being saved from?
A: God created us out of love to be in fellowship with Him. Yet sin makes it impossible for any human to ever be in God’s presence, as His holy nature is fundamentally opposed to our unholy condition. We who believe have been saved from the total spiritual death brought about by the sin of Adam and shared by humanity ever since, which works itself out in futility on earth and eternal separation from God in the hereafter.

Q: Who then is good enough to attain to God’s standard of holy perfection?
A: No one is. ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Q: Then what must one do to be saved?
A: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Q: How has our salvation been accomplished?
A: By the great work of Jesus Christ, who lived the life that we cannot live, died the death we deserve, and was raised from the dead on the third day, thus securing the same resurrection for we who trust in Him.

Q: How do we get this salvation?
A: By trusting in the work of Christ and repenting from our sins we are saved from the necessary eternal separation from Him caused by the gravity and severity of sin, and brought into a vibrant and loving relationship with our Creator.

Q: Why did Christ have to die? Couldn’t God just excuse our sin and accept us without Christ having to go to the cross?
A: To say that God should simply turn His head from sin is to take neither the gravity of sin nor the holiness of God seriously. Sin is an assault on the very fundamental nature of God, not something He merely has an opinion against. God does not make the choice to punish sin as we would choose which clothes to wear. Rather, He cannot co-exist with sin, and therefore He is eternally committed to its eradication.
At the same time, He is the very essence of love, not wishing that we sinners would get what we deserve. It is at the cross where this eradication of sin took place, as God poured His wrath onto the shoulders of Jesus Christ instead of onto we who deserved it. This plan of salvation was entered into by God the Father and Jesus the Son, the Father sending Jesus to die, and Jesus lovingly submitting to the Father’s will. Through such a plan God retained His fundamental nature, remaining holy by dealing with sin, and loving by graciously saving undeserving sinners.
Q: Does a person contribute to their own salvation?
A: The only contribution a person makes to their own salvation is being lost (Eph. 2:1-3). If we do not recognize our own sinfulness and utter helplessness before a just and holy God, then we will likewise not recognize our need for salvation.

Q: What does it mean to be saved by grace?
A: To be saved by grace means that the work and credit of salvation belongs entirely to God. His holy and loving disposition made up for our lack at Calvary in the death of Christ, and it is He who draws us from death to life, to do a work in changing our hearts from ones utterly opposed to Him into ones desiring Him. The only thing humans have in common pertaining to salvation is our rightful status as condemned sinners and vessels of wrath. This means that God gets all the glory for saving us, and any boast or pride on our part for being good or deserving is inconsistent with the idea of grace.

Q: What then is a person’s responsibility in salvation?
A: An individual’s responsibility is to respond to God as He draws them near and shows them their need for Him. This response is a transfer of trust from one’s own tainted deeds and self-righteousness to the perfect obedience and work of Christ, as well as repentance from sin in recognition of Jesus Christ Lord.

Q: Can a believer lose his or her salvation?
A: Absolutely not. To say that someone can lose their salvation is to wrest the act from God and put it into human hands. What Christ accomplished on the cross so finally and definitively defeated sin that nothing, past, present, or future sins included, can separate us from His love. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Q: What did Christ’s work on the cross accomplish?
A: Because of what Christ did for us, we are now “justified.” This means that God looks at we who believe as if we were righteous, seeing the perfect work of Christ instead of our sin.

Q: What is the result of such a salvation?
A: Because of our restored relationship with God, we receive peace in this life and eternal life in God’s presence, otherwise known as Heaven.