A Short Summation of Eternal Salvation

The purpose of this little summation is to outline how God saves us from our fallen condition and restores us to fellowship with our Creator. Some of the Bible verses that support each summary statement are included here from the English Standard Version. For those who wish to study more deeply into each point, links take you to more advanced studies which follow the topical outline of the Westminster Confession of Faith, but the content and conclusions are supported strictly by the Bible alone.

The Plan:
God brought the universe into existence by his eternal and unchangeable decree. His decree includes all that will ever occur. The purpose of all things created is to display the Wonders and Glory of the Creator.

Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

Psalm 135:6, “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”

Job 42:2, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Matthew 10:29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

Psalm 19:1-2, “… The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”

Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him.”

Links to more advanced studies:
– God’s Decrees: Certainty and Contingency
– God’s Providence: The Symphony of Everything

The Fall:
All humans were represented in Eden by Adam. When he sinned, guilt and the curse of God’s covenant fell upon all who would descend naturally from him.

Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned–”

Romans 3:10-12, “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ ”

Links to more advanced studies:
– Man’s Fall Into Sin
– God’s Covenant with Man

The Promise:
After the fall of Adam God promised to redeem his chosen people by a child born to a woman. The debt of these chosen ones was paid in full by Jesus Christ on the Cross fulfilling that promise.

To Satan God said in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Isaiah 53:4-6 speaks of Jesus the Promised Messiah, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Romans 8:29, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ ”

Ephesians 1:11-12, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Links to more advanced studies:
– Jesus Christ, the Mediator

The Rescue:
God regenerates his chosen people by grace alone. Regeneration stirs in them a sincere faith in Christ’s atonement, repentance, and a desire to obey and honor God. The regenerated believer is Justified because his guilt was paid in full by the Savior. God works in his redeemed people to make them grow spiritually by his Spirit working through the revealed Word.

Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Acts 13:48, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

Romans 8:30, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Galatians 2:16, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Ephesians 1:17-18, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”

Jesus said in John 6:44-45, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me–”

Romans 10:13-17, “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Links to more advanced studies:
– Free Will
– Effectual Call
– Justification
– Adoption
– Sanctification
– Of Saving Faith
– Repentance Unto Life
– Good Works

The Outcome:
Upon death the souls of the regenerate are united with the Triune God in heaven. At the end of this age the unredeemed are sent into the eternal torment we all deserve, and the redeemed live in a glorified state with God forever.

John 10:26-29, “but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

1 Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 15:8, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

1 John 2:3, “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”

Links to more advanced studies:
– Perseverance of the Saints
– Assurance of Grace and Salvation
– Eschatology (studies of the end of the ages and final judgment)

Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.