Three Phases of Salvation

Over the past few years I have hundreds of discussions about salvation with people from within many different branches of Christianity. One common thing I found among all the denominations, whether it be Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Church of God, Church of Christ, Catholic, or whatever, is  that they have a misunderstanding of Biblical salvation. Scripture, if read in context, speaks of three types of salvation. Some of you are thinking “Three types? nuh-uh! Thats not what Ive been taught or what my preacher says”. I once thought the same thing. But I urge you to e like the Bereans of Acts 17:11. When you hear any teaching take it and compare it to scripture “examine the scripture daily, to see if what was said was true”. I’ve found that churches often get too steeped in tradition that they neglect to refer back to scripture. 

I was having a conversation recently with some friends. I knew what I wanted to say about the three phases of salvation, but couldn't quite put it all together in words, ever have that happen to you? I hate it when that happens! But alas, Google to the rescue! I found an article by Steven R. Cook. Regardless of his denomination or theological ideas, he manages to do a wonderful job of explaining the three phases of salvation. He writes:

   “Once a person is born again, he is saved from the penalty of sin (Rom. 8:1; Eph. 2:5, 8), the power of sin (Rom. 6:11-14), and will ultimately be saved from the presence of sin when God takes him to heaven and gives him a new body like the body of Jesus (Phil. 3:20-21).  This truth is related to the three phases of salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification. 

      

Justification 

Justification is the instantaneous act of God whereby He forgives the sinner of all sins—past, present and future—and declares him perfectly righteous in His sight.  Justification is predicated on “the gift of righteousness” that God freely imputes to the believer at the moment of salvation (Rom. 5:17; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9).  Justification before a holy God is possible solely on the grounds that Christ has borne every sin committed by the sinner (Heb. 10:10-14; 1 Pet. 3:18), and as an act of pure grace freely imputes His perfect righteousness to him (Rom. 3:21-26; 5:17; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9; 1 John 2:2).  Justification is always by grace and never by works, as the sinner is, “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). 

Sanctification

Sanctification is the process whereby the believer moves from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity over time as he learns God’s Word and makes good choices to live God’s will (Eph. 4:11-16; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; 1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18).  The Christian who advances to spiritual maturity does so [with the help of] the power of the Holy Spirit and on the basis of God’s Word daily learned and applied (Eph. 5:18; Gal. 5:16; 1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18).  Sanctification is never instantaneous but is ongoing until the Christian leaves this world and goes to heaven. 

Glorification

Glorification is the final phase of the believer’s salvation experience and occurs when he leaves this world, either by death or by rapture, and enters into the presence of God in heaven (Rom. 8:17-18).  The Christian never achieves sinless perfection until he is glorified in heaven, at which time his sin nature is removed and he is given a perfect body (Phil. 3:20).”

I’ve found that the first two phases are often confused, many combining them as one thing. This, can lead to a lot of problems, making it seems as though good works has something to do with receiving eternal life. That would contradict the numerous verses about that says receiving eternal life is by grace and through faith, not of works. 

(The following are my words and thoughts on the phases of salvation. I refer back to a lot of pastors I've heard who teach things out of context and then try to clear some of those statements up.)

I have heard many famous pastors say “if you are living a life of sin” or doing certain sins, then “that proves you were never saved to begin with” or “that proves that you have lost your salvation”. These theological conclusions come from not reading the verses in context. If read in context, it becomes abundantly clear that neither of those possibilities are possible. We are justified by God’s grace, through faith in Christ. The Greek word for Grace means “a free, undeserved, or unmerited gift”. If something is free, undeserved or unmerited, that means that you can do no works or deeds to receive it.  Romans 11:6 says that salvation (context: justification) is by Grace, “And if by grace, then it cannot  be based on works; if it were based on works, then grace would not be grace (a free, undeserved, or unmerited gift)”.  So, if we are saved (context: justified) by God’s grace, then works can have no part of that.  I hear many say that we have to do good works in addition to that. But if we are trusting in good works as well, then we aren't trusting in grace, meaning that we are not saved, because we can only be saved by his free unmerited grace. Grace can have nothing to do with works. 

To be justified one only needs to receive God’s free gift given by his grace, by believing in Christ as savior. Its that simple. But many people have changed the definition of believe to include works and obedience. The Greek word for believe means “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to place confidence in”. That means that we think that the fact that Jesus is the son of God and died for our sins and rose again, is true. That means that we are persuaded of that fact. And it means that we place our confidence in Christ saving us from our sins. None of those have anything to do with good works that we do or obedience.  Justification is a one time thing, we believe and we receive eternal life. Justification is what most mean when they say they “got saved”.

Sanctification, on the other hand, is the next step. It is an ongoing process in which we, with the help of the spirit become more holy and Christ-like. We try our best to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord by obeying His commands, helping others, and loving Him. This is an ongoing process that starts the moment we believe in Christ. We do all these things because we love God and want to please him. Scripture tells us we get rewards (inheritance or crowns) in the kingdom because we do these things. But we dont do these things with the selfish intentions of getting the rewards, we do them because we love the Lord. 

Sanctification, in some regards, is a choice we make. We willingly choose to live a life for the Lord. We are bound to mess up, but we get back up and continue on with our life lived for Him. Because this is a choice, believers can also choose not to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. The Bible strongly warns against this. If it weren't possible for a believer to live a life that was not pleasing to the Lord, then it wouldn't warn against it so much. The church of Corinth was notorious for doing this. Paul says they are believers, but they are living a life of sin and vice. They have believed but have never grown. They have eternal life, but when they enter the kingdom they will receive little or no rewards (inheritance or crowns).  

These people have, as 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, “quenched the spirit”, meaning that the ignore what the Holy Spirit is telling them. They are going against their conscience. It also says that it is very possible for their life of sin to bring about quick physical death. The wages of sin, after all, is death. God will discipline these people more harshly than others. His discipline is always with the intention of bringing His children back into fellowship with Him. 

It is my assumption that pastors and theologies teach that you have to do good works or obey rules in addition to believing (combining justification and sanctification) because they are afraid that their congregation will take the bad route and live a life of sin. They sacrifice sharing a clear and correct teaching of the gospel of God’s grace for keeping a good congregation that does great things. They reject God’s grace. They deny that it is free. They tack on that one extra step. This isn't anything new, you see this happening within the first few chapters of Genesis. God told Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat  from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16-17).  The only thing God told him not to do was to eat from that one tree. Well, then Eve came along and added to what God said. she told there servant, “God did say ‘You must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, AND you must not touch it’” (Genesis 3:3). She added the part about touching the tree. This was no doubt a precaution added to make sure you didn't get anywhere near to eating it. If you cant touch it, how can you eat it? The intentions were good, and it was good that they didn't touch it, but that wasn't what God told them. Likewise, people who added  the good works and obedience to salvation (context: justification), did so with good intentions, not wanting anyone to even get near to living a sinful life, but they added onto what God says in Hs word, thus changing the gospel of God’s grace to, as Paul says, “a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7). 

I am not advocating for believers to live a life of sin. I am simply urging people to teach God’s word in context. Many have a hard time grasping the concept of God’s free grace because, as humans, we expect things to be worked for. We work to get paid, we do good things in order for people to like us better, we study hard for a test to get good grades, etc… It is hard for us to imagine that the greatest thing in the world is free and that we don't have to do anything or work hard to receive it. When I finally understood all of this and how salvation (context: justification) is given freely by God’s Grace and received simply by faith, it opened my eyes to just how great and loving God is and how amazing His grace really is. A proper understanding of God’s grace leads to a greater appreciation of His gift, and urges us to live a life that is pleasing to Him because He is our father and has done amazing things for us.  

An Argument For Grace

A friend of mine who graduated with me from Summit Ministries contacted me about my stance on Eternal Salvation and how we should live a Christian life. He was coming from a “Lordship Salvation” point of view, whereas I was coming from a biblical point of view that Salvation is by God’s Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. This is the response that I sent him in regards to some of the points that he made in our discussion. Instead of putting his claims on here, I simply worded the response in a way that made it obvious what the claim said. 

First , one of the main things that I have seen from the teachers of Reformed Theology, Calvinism, and Lordship is that they constantly confuse Justification and Sanctification. It is very difficult to determine to whom they are speaking (saved or unsaved). 

Scripture is clear that we are saved (or justified) by God’s grace alone, through our faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone, not by our works. It is a free gift of God which we do not deserve or earn, which is the definition of grace (Eph. 2:8-9). The word justified is a legal term which basically means to “be made right”. We cannot enter into heaven unless we are righteous.  Because we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, we are not righteous. That is why Christ died for our sins. When we believe in Christ as our savior, it is accredited to us as righteousness. The innocent blood of Christ covers us and we are sealed in Christ. Nothing can snatch us from His hand nor his Father’s hand (John 10:27-30). This divine double grip guarantees our preservation for all eternity. It is not our  holding on to Him, but His holding on to us that keeps us securely saved. Once we believe/put our faith in Christ, we are justified, or made right, in the eyes of God. Nothing can take that from us.

Once we have been justified, we start the process which the scripture calls sanctification, or being made holy, is what we call the Christian life. This deals with our everyday living and how we should live as believers.  We are supposed to live our lives in a way that pleases the Lord. We do this by doing good works, spreading the gospel, discipling other believers, bringing people to Christ, etc. This lifestyle would be pretty similar to what Lordship folks say is “living for the Lord” or “Submitting your life to the Lordship of Christ”. As believers, we are supposed to live this way, but sadly in some cases, people become believers, and stay, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians and 1 Peter, “babes in Christ”. They are believers; they have put their faith in Christ as their Savior, but they haven't done anything since that. Scripture tells more mature believers to mentor and disciple these babes in order to help them become more mature in their faith and come to live their lives in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. 

Almost all Lordship teachers and followers think that someone must be living a good Christian life in order to be “truly” saved. But that is never mentioned in scripture because if our good works in our Christian life are what make us saved/justified, then the object of salvation is not Christ, but our works, thus making Christ death be in vain (Gal. 2:21). Our works are completely separate from our faith in regards to salvation/justification. 

Christ died for our sins because we could never achieve righteousness through the law/works. Therefore when we have put our faith in Christ and are saved/justified, we are no longer obligated to obey the law because Christ fulfilled it and we are seen as righteous as he is. Now, just because we are not obligated to do good works to get to heaven does that mean that we should just live however we want? By no means! Freedom from the law through faith in Christ means that we can freely and by our own accord choose to serve and follow him. Galatians 2:11-21 describes this beautifully. 

One other thing that bugs me about the phrases that Lordship folks use is the emphasis on the words “really” and similar words used to describe salvation. Often times  Lordship people like to say “Well, some people who think they are saved, really arent.” or “They were never really saved” or “There faith wasn't real”. They seem to indicate that there are different types of faith, but scripture shows us that there is just one type of faith, and that is the saving faith of believing in Christ Jesus as your savior for eternal life. You either have faith or you don't. You either are saved, or you are not. There are no varying degrees of faith. 

Matthew 7: 15-23

The purpose of this passage in Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount, was not to present the way of salvation, because his disciples were already saved, but it is presenting a way of righteous living for those who are in God's family. He is instructing his disciples on how to work with other people. 

In chapter 7, starting in verse 15 and following, he specifically says he is talking about false teachers. He is warning his disciples about false teachers who come across as sheep but are really wolves. He is saying that they may come across as good teachers, but inwardly they are vicious false teachers. He is telling them that they will be able to tell if they are false teachers by what they teach. If it is contrary to the truth, then it is bad fruit. If they are false teachers they will not say the truth (have good fruit).  He is talking specifically about false teachers in this context. 

Now, continuing in verse 21, he is saying that not everyone who calls out to him will go to heaven, but only those who do the will of his father. Now, what is the will of his father? God’s will for unsaved people is not merely proper theology and impressive works. In the context, Jesus wants people to accept God’s Way (7:13-14) and God’s Word (7:24-27), and obey accordingly. Previously in this Sermon, Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven was entered only by those whose righteousness exceeds that of the self-righteous Jewish leaders (5:20-48). The righteousness required for eternal life is not based on outward conduct (5:21-28), which is why they should seek God’s righteousness (6:33). Jesus is the narrow gate that leads to God’s righteousness and life (7:13-14; John 10:9). Similar words and concepts in 7:21-23 and 21:23-46 show that the issue is belief in Christ and His righteousness (21:25, 32). Other Bible passages help us know how to receive God’s righteousness (Rom. 3:21-24). Works are not acceptable for obtaining God’s righteousness (Rom. 4:4-5). The only thing God wants an unbeliever to do is believe in His Son, Jesus Christ (John 6:27-29). The will of the Father is to believe in Jesus Christ for righteousness (Matthew 12:50; John 6:40).*

He is saying that only those who believe in Christ as their savior will go to heaven. The reason he said that the people who said "Lord Lord" will not enter is because they never believed in him for eternal life. 

It is further explained in the following verses. He says that many who have done lots of good works such as having preached and spoken as prophets, performed exorcisms, and done many supernatural signs, are trusting in their works to merit eternal life. Their plea to Christ reveals an attempt to justify their entrance into the kingdom of heaven based on their magnificent performances. Their pride in their deeds reveals an attitude of self-righteousness. In their plea, they do not say, “Have we not believed in You alone?” They are thinking that they can get into heaven by those good works.* 

In verse 23 He says to them that he never knew them. Now, if they were believers, then he would have at least known them at one point, but that is not the case here. He says he NEVER knew them, meaning they had never put their faith in Him as their savior, meaning they were never what we call Christians.*

They may have thought that their works and doing those things were what made them Christian, but a what makes someone a Christian/believer is putting your faith alone in Christ alone as your savior from sin. 

These people might have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus but Submission to Christ’s lordship is not enough to save a person. Someone can surrender all of his or her life and be a devoted follower and servant of Christ’s ethical commands, but not know Jesus Christ as Savior. After all, the people in this passage do not cry “Savior, Savior.” Good works, no matter how great they are, are not enough to save a person. Neither can one’s deeds prove a relationship to Jesus Christ as Savior. Miraculous performances can come from sources other than God (Acts 19:13; 2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 13:1-12). *

James 2:14-26

In relation to the much debated passage in James 2 about the “faith vs works”,  the whole book was written to those that were already justified before God/saved. This passage is in reference to how we should be towards others that are not saved, and how we should show our faith to them so that they might believe. A common misconception that I’ve seen is that people see this passage, and specifically the “faith without works is dead” part and they think that it means that if the person has no good works, then their faith is not real, or that they have no faith. This idea is not what the passages are saying. As I pointed out, in context, this book is written to those who already believe, its purpose is not to show how to get saved/justified, it is to show how we should live our life once we are saved, in a way that can bring others to Christ. The word “dead” used in verse 26 is, in context, best translated as “useless”. Our faith, without good works, is useless to unbelievers. Yes, we have faith, and that is what has saved/justified us and nothing can take that away from us, but it is useless to others if we don't do good works to help people or to bring people to Christ. A good analogy of this would be: A man who has his medical doctorate is useless if he doesn't practice medicine. Yes, he has his degree and he is a doctor, nothing can take that away from him, but what good is he to people if he does not help them? He isn't, his profession is dead or useless because he doesn't use it in the way it is supposed to be used. Does that mean he doesn't have his medical degree? Of course not! He still has it; he benefits from it, but others do not. 

Another thing to keep in mind is in verse 21 the justification of Abraham by his faith alone is mentioned, “Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?” Also, verse 23 references Genesis  15:6 which states, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” That is what saved Abraham, believing/putting his faith in God. Some 30 years later Abraham was justified before men by his works when he offered Isaac in Genesis 22. That was to be shown before men that he was saved.  Before God justification is by faith alone, before men, in order for them to see, faith must be demonstrated in works.  

Assurance of Salvation

My friend said this about assurance of salvation and Paul: 

1 Corinthians 9:27 - “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

If anyone would have total assurance of salvation, it would be the Apostle Paul, But he doesn't

In reference to what you said about Paul not having the assurance of salvation:

I think you misread that verse and read it out of context. Throughout that chapter he has talked about rewards for doing good things. This reward is NOT heaven, it is the inheritance/rewards that we will receive in heaven for our works. He is saying that he is disciplining himself so that he will not be disqualified from the rewards. A cross reference about this reward is 1 Corinthians 3:14, which says “If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward”. In context he is talking about any man who, after believing in Christ, does good works that are in the right motive in serving the Lord, then those things will survive the fire and shall receive rewards for that. Salvation is a free gift, but rewards, for those who are saved, are earned. The quality of our service is the criterion. Rewards are often spoke of as crowns (1 Corinth. 9:25; 1 Thess. 2:19, 2 Tim. 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4, Rev. 2:10, 3:11, 4:4, and 10). Also the reward is mentioned in 2 John 8. 

When we are discussing this issue of assurance of salvation. we have to deal with the biblical data. There is no doubt that the New Testament authors knew they were saved. Just read the introduction to some of the epistles and see how they referred to themselves. Romans 1:1 Paul says “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God.” No uncertainty there! Paul knew that if he were to die he would immediately pass into the presence of the Lord. “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8). No Uncertainty there either. We get the same certainty from James (James 1:1), Peter (1 Peter 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1), Jude (Jude 1), and John. In 1 John 5:11-13 he says, “ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” John tells his readers that if they have Jesus Christ, they have eternal life. Since they have believed in Jesus they should know that they have eternal life. It is a simple statement of fact. All people born into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ should know that they have eternal life. 

If God wants us to know we are saved,  it is presumptuous not to know . If God made us a promise to be believed, then it is foolish not to take God at His word. Who are we to say His promise cannot be true for us? His word is true as stated. God thinks that we should know and that we need to know. *

Can Good Works Prove Salvation? *

Some who would agree that we are saved through faith alone and not by works nevertheless teach that works are necessary to prove that salvation is genuine. Instead of frontloading the gospel with works, they backload it. One popular saying is, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” While this may sound good at first, on closer examination it is a nonsensical and contradictory statement, because it says that faith must be alone but never alone!

There is every reason to think that those who have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior and are consequently born into God’s family will experience a changed life to some degree. Some would say that this changed life is evidenced by good works which proves they are saved. If that is true, then the converse is true: if there are no good works, then there is no salvation. In this view, good works (sometimes called “fruit” or evidence of a changed life) prove or disprove one’s eternal salvation.

Some passages are used to contend that works can prove or disprove one’s eternal salvation. Probably the most common are James 2:14-26, John 15:6, and Matthew 7:15-20. But James is writing to Christians about the usefulness of their faith, not its genuineness. Likewise, in John 15:6 Jesus is talking about fruitless believers and compares them to branches that are burned, in other words, not of much use. Matthew 7:15-20 warns against false prophets (not believers in general) who can be evaluated on the basis of their evil deeds or heretical teaching (not an absence of works in general).

There is no passage of Scripture that claims works can prove salvation. In fact, there are many problems with trying to use works to prove salvation, or the lack of works to disprove salvation.

Good works can characterize non-Christians. Works in and of themselves can not prove that anyone is eternally saved because those who have not believed in Christ will often do good things. In fact, good deeds are essential to many non-Christian religions. Sometimes the outward morality of non-Christians exceeds that of established Christians. In Matthew 7:21-23 we see the possibility of those who do not know Christ doing great works, but their works are useless in demonstrating their salvation; they are not saved.

Good works can be hard to define. Though we might define a good work as something done by a Christian through the Spirit for the Lord, how can we always know when that is true? It is hard to imagine even a single day when a Christian (or non-Christian, for that matter) would not do something good like go to work to provide for a family, hold a door for someone, or brake for a squirrel. How can we know when these things are done through the Spirit and for the Lord, especially if they can be done by non-Christians?

Good works are relative. While a person’s behavior may seem excessive, it may actually demonstrate great progress in that person’s Christian growth. A man slips with a curse word that startles other believers, but those believers do not know that before his conversion, curse words flowed freely. The amount of fruit must be considered in the context of one’s total past life, a difficult thing to do. It may also be relative to the amount of sin in one’s present life. For example, if a Christian were to commit adultery, we might focus our thinking on that sin so that we ignore the other good things he is doing.

Good works can be passive in nature. The fruit of salvation is not always what we do, but often what we do not do. As a Christian, one may no longer get drunk or may refrain from yelling at an inconsiderate motorist. This fruit of the Spirit, self-control, may not be detected by others because of its passive nature.

Good works can be unseen. In Matthew 6:1-6 Jesus told his followers to give and pray in secret rather than publicly. A person who never prays in a group may breathe a prayer while driving and no one will ever know. Another may not attend church, but give regularly to a Christian charity. These are works that go unobserved by others.

Good works can be deceptive. Since we can not know one’s motives, a seeming good work could be done for the wrong reason. A person might give money to a church to impress others. Another might volunteer to work with church children only to wait for an opportunity to sexually abuse them. These are not actually good works at all! Motives are difficult to discern, even for the doer, but God knows each person’s heart (1 Cor. 4:3-5)

Good works can be inconsistent. The Bible allows the possibility of believers who begin well, but fall away from their walk with the Lord or fall into sin (1 Cor. 11:30; 2 Tim. 4:10; James 5:19-20). If a Christian shows the evidence of a changed life, but later falls away, at what point in their life do we examine them to prove or disprove their salvation? If there can be lapses in good works, how long does the lapse continue before one is judged as never saved?

Nowhere does the Bible teach that fruit or good works can prove one’s eternal salvation. Since the fruit of good works is not easily discerned or quantified, it can not be reliable proof of salvation. The subjective nature of measuring one’s fruit creates the impossibility of knowing objectively whether someone is saved. The amount of fruit necessary to please one Christian “fruit inspector” may not please the next “fruit inspector.” As Christians, we are created in Jesus Christ to do good works (Eph. 2:10) and expected to do good works (1 Tim. 6:18; Titus 2:7, 14; Heb. 10:24), but good works are never attached to the condition for salvation, which is faith alone in Christ alone (Rom. 4:4-5). While good works can be corroborating evidence for one’s faith in Christ, they are not sufficient to prove or disprove it. Only faith in God’s promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ guarantees and proves our salvation.

Since our salvation is grounded in God's promise and not our performance, since it is a free undeserved gift and not something we must earn,  we are secure. God's promise is sure and he cannot lie. Romans 3:4 says, "Let God be true but every man a liar." In 2 Timothy 2:13 he says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny himself ." In other words, even if we were to deny our relationship to Jesus Christ (as the disciple Peter did), God is faithful to His promise to give us His salvation.

*The majority of this is written by me, but in some parts I used text from Dr. Charles C. Bing’s book “Simply by Grace” and his website gracelife.org