The Question of Salvation:
What are the Divine Instruments?
A Brief Exposition
by Matthew Heyns

The main considerations to the doctrines of salvation are fourfold. The first and foremost of these is the source of salvation, the second is the imputation of salvation, the third is the realization of salvation and, lastly, the effects of salvation. It must be said here that if one is justified, he can be said to be saved, for anyone declared righteous is passed from before the Judgement Throne and granted admittance to Glory; "That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:7)." Also, the paper is addressed generally to persons "presumed" to be saved, hence the use of "we" or "us", are not inclusive of all people, but pertain to the elect of God, who have been converted according to his predestinating mercy. This paper shall address the basic question of how one is justified, and the results thereof.

The Source of Salvation is of God, as he has declared and shown it to be. The Scripture states in Isaiah 43:11-13;

"I, [even] I, [am] the Lord; and beside me [there is] no saviour. 12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when [there was] no strange [god] among you: therefore ye [are] my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I [am] God. 13 Indeed before the day [was], I [am] He; And [there is] no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who shall reverse it?"

God tells us here in verse 11, he alone is savior. Also, we read, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12)." The Savior God then tells us (in verse 12, of Isaiah 43), "I have declared." What has he declared? As savior, he has declared the salvation program, personified in Jesus Christ. Jesus referred to this when he said, "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me (John 6:38)." Jesus came as the keystone of the program and for the actual salvation of the program's objects, whom the Bible refers to as 'the elect.' And He did save, as we read in the next part to Isaiah 43:12, "and have saved."

The salvation of God has been shown to the world, and the elect are shown their individual salvation. John 3:16 is Jesus' explanation of the revelation of the program to the world: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." To the individual, the personal aspect of their own salvation is revealed: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God (1 Corinthians 2:12)." Our text in Isaiah next tells us these things can be known to have been done "when [there was] no strange [god] among you." How was it that there were not any strange gods (idols of whatever type) among us? God removed them, when he sprinkles us with the clean water of the Gospel. We read: "I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you (Ezekiel 36:25)."

As a result of these things which God has done, we become His witnesses. Jeremiah describes the need to speak as God's witness in Jeremiah 20:9; "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But [his word] was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not [stay]." As his people, we should likewise find it impossible to hold our tongues concerning the testimony of God. Moving further in the Isaiah passage, he says, before the day was. Before the day in which my salvation was revealed to me, and before there were any days at all, Jehovah purposed and performed all these. The package is completed before we knew about it. And it is for eternity and from eternity and is immutable, because God has worked it. His hand holds his elect and no one can deliver us from it. The total package which God has so ordained has its roots firmly planted in the declaration of God, from before the foundation of the world.

In Ephesians 1: 3 - 6, Paul expresses the plan of salvation in another of its most concise formats. Here we read:

"Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved."

God has, as this passage tells us, chosen us before the foundation of the world. This is the very source, the essential beginning of salvation. To place the beginnings of salvation anywhere else is to remove the fountain from its spring, to remove the choice from God's hand. There is no other possible beginning. But more is said herein. We were also chosen in him. We, the elect, are chosen in Christ as his promise...the promise, or covenant, which God the Father made with God the Son which is an immutable promise. This promise is seen in: "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (John 6:39)", and "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John 17:2)" The Ephesians verses also say he has made us acceptable in the Beloved. To be made acceptable to God is to be made righteous, and we are righteous because we are in the Beloved, who is Jesus. This has happened in the past and is an immutable truth. Our salvation is, therefore, established, and it is established from before the foundation of the world. I have had nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of my salvation, nor was there any known cause, either in my person or in my actions, thoughts or beliefs, at any time, which have led to this predetermination of the Father. Rather, it is according to the good pleasure of his will.

We have seen, as pertains to the question of salvation, that our salvation has its sources truly and solely in God, and in answering the question, we must state the eternity, or the timelessness of that salvation. The answer must state the fact of my salvation before I have had any inkling of the actuality of it.

"Sinful man stands in need, not of inducements or assistance to save himself, but precisely of saving; and Jesus Christ has come not to advise, or urge, or woo, or help him save himself, but to save him."

B.B. Warfield

"The sin of Adam did not make the condemnation of all men merely possible: it was the ground of their actual condemnation. So the righteousness of Christ did not make the salvation of men merely possible, it secured the actual salvation of those for whom He wrought."

Charles Hodge

The companion to this doctrine is the actual imputation of our personal salvation, which is here reckoned as synonymous with, but not limited to, our personal justification. By this I mean that the imputation of justification is the root of my salvation, but my salvation is developed further by the Spirit in the process of sanctification. The question would here be, "What has caused me to be justified?" This is a major point to the debate. To study this properly, one must understand that to be justified before God does not mean to merely have one's sins blotted away. Forgiveness, by God's standards and man's, requires a reparation. Man often simply requires an apology in payment. God requires death, "For the wages of sin [is] death; (Romans 6:23a)"

To be declared righteous before God requires that a person has not ever sinned according to the official record. To have been conceived of man, which is to say born of the lineage of Adam, is to partake of sin in Adam. "Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalms 51:5)." "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)" It is not possible for one who has sinned to ever enter the Kingdom of God, for "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4b). Therefore, a better system than "erasing" sin must be used, for as God is the God of Truth, a sin which has been committed cannot be ignored as if it had not occurred. To God's great Glory, God has imputed from before the foundation of the world the totality of our sin to Jesus Christ His Son, leaving us blameless. This is so stated in Psalm 32:2a; "Blessed [is] the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." God can not ignore our sins. If they are not imputed (credited) to "the man," then they must be imputed to another.

We all know, beyond a shadow of a doubt (and as I John 1:8 10 tells us and we must concur) that we have indeed sinned. Yet the Lord has not imputed that sin to our account. In fact, that sin has never, from before the foundation of the world, been imputed to us. And so our souls have not sinned, for "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9)" But I do sin in the flesh! "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin (Romans 7:24, 25)."

So what has become of these sins? Have they somehow been done away with so God cannot see? This cannot be. We consider that the Scripture also states most plainly:

"Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard [it]. 8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and [ye] fools, when will ye be wise? 11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they [are] vanity. (Psalms 94:7,8,11)" A proper means must be found and it is found in the propitiatory work of Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah spoke of Him as God's Righteous Servant and said of Him, "by His knowledge shall My Righteous Servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11)." He has borne them from the foundation of the world and they are in no way imputed to the elect, ever. The cause of our justification is, therefore, the knowledge of the Righteous Servant. What, we now ask, did Christ know? Genesis holds the answer to this in chapter 3:22, where we read, "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: (Genesis 3:22a)" Which one of the Godhead knew good and evil? This was Christ Jesus who bore our iniquity and knew it before Adam and Eve had ever committed the first sin. Revelation 13:8 reveals that the bearing of our iniquity, was before the foundation of the world. We now can look to Romans 5:9, which describes our justification as being in the blood of Christ. Is our justification by faith? Yes. Christ was faithful on his part to the covenant with the Father, knew our sin for us, took the punishment of death for it, and thus left us without our sin nor any record thereof. Our sin was entirely given to Christ. Our sins have been separated from us as the East from the West, for as East and West do not, and never have met, so we and our sins never meet, and never have met. "As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:12)."

"If Christ has died for you, you can never be lost. God will not punish twice for one thing. If God punished Christ for your sins He will not punish you. `Payment God's justice cannot twice demand; first, at the bleeding Savior's hand, and then again at mine.' How can God be just if he punished Christ, the substitute, and then man himself afterwards?"

C.H. Spurgeon

This places our justification in timeless eternity. Thus far, both the person and work of God have been seen as the timeless causes of justification, for in timelessness we were chosen to be blameless before Him and in timelessness Jesus took upon Himself our iniquity. It was decided and done.

If God has taken such measures to separate our sin from us, when and how does this become a reality for us? This now comes back again to the crux of the matter. We all know, as stated, the reality of our sinful lives before salvation, and we all also know the reality of our continued sin. To properly entertain the notion of the depths to which we are committed in an unsaved condition, we must recognize the total inability of man to do anything at all to save himself. This means specifically that neither before nor after we are saved has anything been found in us for which we can credit our salvation. And, since "The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9), anything put therein which might be rightly claimed as our own is corrupted beyond the acceptance of God as deserving of justification.

Before we come to the realization of my salvation, we are under a tutor, under the law. "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed (Galatians 3:23)." "And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, (Romans 9:23)." So "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found (Romans 4:1)?" Nothing in the flesh, but in the Spirit, the adoption of Sonship. We, with Abraham, were equal under the Law with those who were slaves to it, but who would never be freed. Yet "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:36)." Our adoption to Sonship has been fulfilled in the fullness of time. Galatians 4:4 - 7 gives us a distinctive perspective on the issue when it states:

Galatians 4:4-7

"But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

Now, having the Spirit, we have the fruit of the Spirit. Now, also,

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:11-17)

Verse 14 tells it plainly: as many as are led, they are the sons, the point here being that sonship comes first. The condition necessary for being led is sonship. This shows why Paul refers in Galatians 1:15, 16 to God being pleased to reveal His Son in him, that he might preach (or confess or witness). He was already a son, Christ was revealed in him and then, led by the Spirit, he preached, reflecting the results of salvation as we saw in Isaiah 43.

Thus we have come to the new life in the newly converted child of God. The very first thing one might say occurs is the generation of faith. Hebrews 11:1 states: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The evidence is the result of, not the cause of, some unseen things. Faith is the evidence of new life; "Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17);" of sonship, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (Ephesians 1:5);" of our being, "raised up together, and made us sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6);" and our being foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified: "29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)." How does this come to be in us? "So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)" The Word tells us of the things God has determined for those who He has set His love upon, and, if we find them to be true of us, we know them to be true. So that which is true but unseen about us is proven, and the things which God intends toward us are also proven to be true. And actually, whether or not we believe or have faith in them, they are still very true. "For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? (Romans 3:3)"

So again, if we are justified from the foundation of the world, when do I realize it? Do I realize it because I have been given a gift of faith? Or do I realize it because I have heard the Word of God? Romans 10 is very informative to this, stating, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." This says that if we confess in truth and believe in truth (faith), we shall be saved in the future. Please note we are not in this verse saved in the present, that is to say as a result, for that would be salvation by works. Saved from what in the future? The wrath which is to come. What does this mean? That having within us the ability to confess and believe is proof of salvation on the Day of the Lord. Jesus said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before My Father which is in heaven (Matthew 10:32, 33)." These are not statements of our confession or belief saving us now, but confirming to us that it will be so. Thus we know at the time of confession or belief that salvation is a reality to us. To understand this fully is to see that our witnessing for Christ and our acting on the belief within us by living a goodly Christian life is actually proof we have that glorious future seated at Jesus' right hand. Further in Romans 8 we read, "10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." If this were to say that belief or confession causes righteousness and salvation, then righteousness is of works. Rather, this is a belief, a knowing, that we are righteous before God. This is a confession about our salvation. Indeed, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say [so], whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy (Psalms 107:2)."

But what about Ephesians 2:8? Does it not say, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:"? Let's look to John Gill to comment on this:

"This is to be understood, not of temporal salvation, nor of preservation in Christ, nor of providential salvation in order to vocation and much less of being put in a way of salvation, or only in a salvable state; but of spiritual salvation, and that actual; for salvation was not only resolved upon, contrived and secured in the covenant of grace, for the persons here spoken to, but it was actually obtained and wrought out for them by Christ, and was actually applied unto them by the Spirit; and even as to the full enjoyment of it, they had it in faith and hope; and because of the certainty of it, they are said to be already saved; and besides, were representatively possessed of it in Christ their head: those interested in this salvation, are not all mankind, but particular persons; and such who were by nature children of wrath, and sinners of the Gentiles; and it is a salvation from sin, Satan, the law, its curse and condemnation, and from eternal death, and wrath to come; and includes all the blessings of grace and glory; and is entirely owing to free grace: for by grace is not meant the Gospel, nor gifts of grace, nor grace infused; but the free favour of God, to which salvation in all its branches is ascribed; as election, redemption, justification, pardon, adoption, regeneration, and eternal glory: the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "by his grace", and so some copies; and it may refer to the grace of all the three Persons; for men are saved by the grace of the Father, who drew the plan of salvation, appointed men to it, made a covenant with the Son, in which it is provided and secured, and sent him into the world to obtain it; and by the grace of the Son, who engaged as a surety to effect it, assumed human nature, obeyed and suffered in it for that purpose, and has procured it; and by the grace of the Spirit, who makes men sensible of their need of it, brings it near, sets it before them, and applies it to them, and gives them faith and hope in it: hence it follows,

"through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God"; salvation is through faith, not as a cause or condition of salvation, or as what adds any thing to the blessing itself; but it is the way, or means, or instrument, which God has appointed, for the receiving and enjoyment of it, that so it might appear to be all of grace; and this faith is not the produce of man's free will and power, but it is the free gift of God; and therefore salvation through it is consistent with salvation by grace; since that itself is of grace, lies entirely in receiving grace and gives all the glory to the grace of God: the sense of this last clause may be, that salvation is not of ourselves; it is not of our desiring nor of our deserving, nor of our performing, but is of the free grace of God: though faith is elsewhere represented as the gift of God. (John 6:65, Philippians 1:29)"

Thus the realization and application are again fully in the hands of God, who has been the source of, cause of and applier of salvation to the individual, irrespective of the heart or will of the individual, that the entire process may be said to be of God, lest the individual claim at any time a function or worthiness or possession which makes him deserving.

Of the results of salvation, many things are said throughout Scripture. In Ezekiel, God tells us the very first thing he does to make the reality of our salvation known to us: he puts a new heart within us:

Ezekiel 11

19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

We may think we have made a decision for Christ - vast majorities of Middle-American-Christians think so, and have placed their faith in that "acceptance decision" via "the sinner's prayer" (an idea not supported by Scripture) - but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, as they say. If we have become born-again we can make no other "decision" except to walk in the paths of righteousness, following our Good Shepherd. Our old stony heart could not make any "decision" except to do evil, for as Christ said,

That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man (Mark 7:20-23).

And again, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? [then] may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." ( Jeremiah 13: 23). Before the heart transplant, we can do nothing but evil, no matter how good it looks to man. Afterward, we should do the will of our Father, having been freed from under the Law and now knowing who he is, knowing he is our Father as he has always known his children. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)"

Having now known this adoption of Sons, we must find a change in ourselves, not necessarily all inclusive, but decidedly life changing. Love for our Lord will have come to our hearts; "We love him, because he first loved us (1 John 4:19)." Our love of the world, worldly pursuits and worldly pleasures should rapidly fade and disappear, for we must "Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15)." We must love God, and Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15)." Likewise, "whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him (1 John 2:5);" and again, "14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Peter 1);" and lastly, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3)."

This is the place many Christians find confusion, as they find no joyful obedience in their flesh. Obedience to the spiritual commands can now become real. The problem in understanding is compounded by teachers who emphasize human agency in the fulfillment of the spiritual requirements of Scripture and allude to the salvation of all in the congregation without teaching the need to "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (2 Corinthians 13:5)." The demands to obey cannot be done by man without the Spirit, for "apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5, paraphrased)." We can take no credit, as our part is the `nothing.' Even our willingness to obey is as a result of the saving power of God: "Thy people [shall be] willing in the day of thy power (Psalms 110:3a)," and until the time of salvation, there is no true ability to obey. The commands are "believe," "come," "follow," "repent," "wash yourself," "purify yourself," and such commands as pertain to the living of a goodly spiritual life.

Yet the new life in Christ is not a ritualistic following of empty, hollow laws in an attempt to earn salvation, which is legalism. These are the commands of the One we love and we forsake our own desires to please Him. And this is not for His sake only.

Deuteronomy 10

12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13 To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?.

Our lives in Christ must be of obedient servitude to Him, such that we do not seek ways around His commands, but should indeed search the Scriptures and find the commands of our God, to obey them, for they are not burdensome, but our expression of love.

So the following of the Shepherd is again not anything to be credited to the individual believer, as the source of the ability to follow is the Spirit of God, who has put within us a desire to follow: "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Psalms 37:4)."

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform until the day of Jesus Christ:" [Philippians 1:6]