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.  

The World's Greatest Lie: You get to Heaven by being Good

I want to address something that has on my mind lately regarding heaven. I have heard this subject called "The World's biggest lie" and even though it sounds over the top, it really is one of, if not the biggest lie ever invented. The sad part about the lie is 1. Most of the world has fallen for it, and 2. It is a matter of life or death.
You may be asking yourself, what is this big lie? Well, the lie exist in many different variations, but the most common two are that "You go to Heaven if you're good" and that "you get to heaven based on your good works". Sure, your grandparents and parents may have fed you that lie as a child, and almost every Hollywood film uses that lie to comfort people. But the fact of the matter is: Going to Heaven has absolutely nothing to do with how good or how bad you are! Sure, Heaven is associated with "good" and Hell with "bad", but truth be told, many "good" people will go to Hell, and many "bad" people will go to Heaven.
First off, nowhere in the Bible is it said that being good gets you to Heaven. What does God say is the requirement to enter into Heaven?
In Psalms 15 David asks God:
"Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?"
And God answers:
"He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."

Wow! So to get to heaven, I have to obey the Ten Commandments? I have to be perfect and sinless? I'm pretty sure that I've broken a lot of the commandments! I guess I'm going to spend an eternity in Hell.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

It is said in Romans 3:23 that "ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". That means that everyone has sinned, and thus do not meet God's requirement to enter into heaven. In Ecclesiastes 7:20 it says: "There is not one truly righteous person on the earth who continually does good and is sinless" So in reality, it is fair that we ALL deserve to go to Hell! But, because God is a merciful and loving god, he gave us a second chance. God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to Earth to live a sinless life, to die for ALL sin, and to raised from the dead to further prove that He was God. Though he was fully human, Jesus was also fully God, God in the flesh, his miracles were done as a way of showing people who he really was.

*Side note: (He had a mass following of believers and because he claimed to be God, the Roman Empire was threatened by that. They wanted him dead, so they, along with the Pharisees and Sadducees (Jewish political & religious leaders) tried to find fault with him. They wanted to find something they could charge him with, so that they could arrest and kill him. But because he was God, thus making him sinless, they couldn't find anything to use against him. )*

In John 14, Jesus is meeting with his disciples about going to heaven to prepare a place for believers, when Thomas (often called doubting Thomas) asked Jesus: "How will we know the way [to heaven]?" Jesus answers: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody come to the father except through me!"
In John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, a Pharisee: "Good loved the world so much, that he gave his one and only Son, and that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
When Jesus died on the cross, he shed his blood and died for ALL sin! He paid the price of death so that we could spend eternity with him in Heaven, if we believed in him! Before he died, hanging on the cross beside Jesus was a thief. The thief realized who Jesus was and admitted that he believed in him, Jesus pardoned him of his sins and assured him that he would be with him in Heaven that day (Luke 23:39-43). Now, this thief, who was clearly a criminal, did not have time to be baptized, do good works, or anything. He simply BELIEVED and put his faith in Christ, and he was admitted into heaven.

In Acts, Paul and Silas were imprisoned because of teaching the gospel. Their prison guard asked: "What must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas answered: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved"

In Ephesians, Paul writes to the Church in Ephesus: "For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through FAITH. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it." So, in other words, because of God's grace (sending Christ to save us), we have been been made righteous (made right) in the sight of God. This has nothing to do with any work you have done, but is a gift of God, so we can't brag about doing anything to have earned it.

I urge you to read the book of Galatians, it is a letter Paul wrote to the Church in Galatia reprimanding them because they have fallen under the assumption that they must obey the law (do works) to earn their way into heaven. They were already saved, but had been deceived by false teachers into believing the "Great Lie". Paul sets them straight. At the end of chapter 2, Paul makes a very powerful statement: "If keeping the law (doing good works) could make us right with God, then Christ died in vain!" WOW! That's intense! It's true, if we could get to heaven based on doing good things, what was the point of Christ dying? There isn't! We can only get to heaven by believing in Jesus Christ.

One of the big passages that is used out of context to back up the "Great Lie" is in James 2. James is talking to a group of Believers about what they need to do after being saved. He tells them that they need to do good works to bring non-believers to Christ. He tells them that "Faith without Works is dead!" If read out of context, this looks as though James is saying that your faith is useless without doing works, but that is not at all what he is saying! Since he is talking to believers, and their salvation cannot be lost (John 10:28-30), he is telling them that in the eyes of man, their faith without works is useless, because they have not shown the attitudes of Christ and have not lead anyone to Christ. Thus meaning their faith is useless to others. It is very important that when reading the Bible, you read it in context and in its entirety

One illustration that I often use is that the world is a sinking ship. We are all on our way to death by drowning. God saw that nobody would survive, so he threw us a giant Lifeboat (Jesus) to save us. He proved that it is really a Lifeboat, and many people climbed aboard. But many people refused to believe it was a lifeboat, so they didn't grab on. God gives us free will, meaning we have the choice to choose him or not. But he only saves those who chose to believe the facts. The rest of the people who refused Christ will spend eternity in Hell. You can do all the good works you want, but as long as you dont have faith in Christ, you will surely burn for eternity. The wages of Sin is death, so this is completely fair.

We are supposed to do good works as a way of showing our love for God, not as a way of earning salvation. As you can see, "The World's Biggest Lie" has been around ever since Jesus was living. It is clear that you can only get to heaven by believing in Christ. The statements that "You go to Heaven if you're good" and that "you get to heaven based on your good works" are lies straight from the pit of Hell

Heaven

When I pass away from this painful world and go to heaven, I expect that it will be quite a breath taking sight to see. As I approach the great white throne of Judgment I stare up at the bright light beaming from atop the throne. I hear a booming, yet comforting voice saying, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” The light shines brighter and engulfs me, then fades away. I then see glimmering gates of pearl sitting on the fluffy redish pink clouds that are the floors of the kingdom. The pearl gates are connected to walls made of beautiful jasper. An angel stood by the gate and as I walk towards it, he opens the gates for me. I walk through the gates and before me stands a gleaming city of gold; its foundation is beautifully decorated with gorgeous precious stones that shine internally. I look down and see the streets are made of transparent gold, as smooth and as clear as glass. White doves flew gracefully above me. In the center of the holy city stands the throne I had seen before, God’s glory magnificently shines down from the top, lighting the whole city. Flowing from the throne is a glamorous stream of water, as clear as crystal. The sound of the running water and doves chirping is soothing. I hear the joyous sound of my fellow brothers and sisters singing praise to the Lord. In this marvelous city there is no pain, there is no fear, there are tears, for all is good and all is well.  I look around with amazement and am thankful that I made the choice to give my life to Christ when I was a boy. I am finally home, and I shall rest here for all of eternity.