Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
Biblical Salvation is not preached in the churches today. True Salvation that saves a soul from Hell can only be attained by “Walking in the Spirit” (Romans 8:1)
Key Takeaways
- Biblical salvation requires Christians to walk in the Spirit, conforming to God’s will for a true spiritual life to be experienced.
- Key steps include being born again, studying the Bible, and being led by the Holy Spirit.
- Christians must run the race of salvation, focusing on their relationship with Jesus and resisting temptation from the Devil.
- The process of spiritual growth involves preparation, running the race, and progressing through eight stages of spiritual maturity.
- Assurance of biblical salvation comes from adhering to scriptural requirements and actively living a life of faith.
To support this claim, Jesus Christ has warned Christians:
"Not every one [meaning every Christian] that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but [ONLY] HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)
The only way a Christian can know God’s will is to be “walking in the Spirit“:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but [WALK] AFTER THE SPIRIT."
(Romans 8:1)
How does a Christian ‘Walk in the Spirit‘?
The Bible says there are several requirements that Christians MUST meet for ‘Walking in the Spirit‘. The most essential requirement is to be “BORN-AGAIN” – spiritually:
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be BORN AGAIN, HE CANNOT SEE the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of [the] WATER [of the word - Ephesians 5:26] and of the Spirit [baptism - John 1:33; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Matthew 20:22-23], HE CANNOT ENTER into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh [religion] is flesh [i.e. "carnally minded - Romans 8:6]; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: SO IS EVERY ONE THAT IS BORN [AGAIN] OF THE SPIRIT." (John 3:3-8)
PLEASE NOTE: What Christ is saying here is the requirement for Christians be become truly born-again Christians (John 3:8). Their spiritual life is to conform to the behaviour of the wind when it enters a situation from one direction, and departs the scene via another direction. A noise (or chatter) remains after the departure; “…so is every one that is born of the Spirit“.
Summary of the spiritual requirements for Salvation
As a brief summary, the principles of ‘Walking in the Spirit‘ are associated with:
- Much study that provides an intimate knowledge and understanding of the King James Bible (Colossians 1:9; 2 Timothy 2:15);
- Being personally instructed about what is “good” and “evil” in this world by God the Father (John 6:45; Isaiah 45:7);
- Choosing to become one of Christ’s disciples by being led by Him to where He wants His people to be (Luke 14:26-33; John 10:27);
- To receive and operate at least one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8-11;)
- To receive and operate in a ministry that has been chosen by Jesus, which is supposed to integrate within other members of the spiritual ‘Body of Christ‘ in the churches (1 Corinthians 12:12-20);
- To earnestly contend for the ‘FAITH’ that was originally given to Christ’s twelve apostles (Jude 1:3; 1 Corinthians 11:19);
- Have the level of FAITH that can potentially move physical mountains (Mark 11:23);
- To have KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING of the Apostle Paul’s Gospel and to OBEY IT (Romans 10:16);
- To have brought forth the minimum required quantity of SPIRITUAL FRUIT unto God the Father that He requires from His children on Earth (Matthew 13:8).
There are many more aspects of becoming spiritually alive towards God than those listed above. Two major aspects of spiritual development that affect Salvation are discussed below.
The RACE that God has set before us
Salvation from beginning to end is portrayed in scripture as a “RACE“. This is a personal race that MUST be RUN by anyone who names Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
What represents the spiritual aspects of this RACE?
Every race has both a Start Line and a Finish Line. Individual contestants participate in the race. To win the race, the first contestant who passes the Finish Line receives the prize (Philippians 3:14; 1 Corinthians 9:24).
In this RACE, each individual Christian is NOT competing against other Christians for their Salvation. On the contrary, their nasty competitor is the Devil himself (1 Peter 5:8). He uses lies and deceptions to distract Christians from finding and remaining on the Narrow Way ( 2 Corinthians 2:11; Matthew 7:14-15).
Christians are entered automatically into their RACE by Jesus Christ when they speak the words of Romans 10:9-10. Jesus Christ now views them at the Start Line of their RACE.
The Finish Line of their RACE represents the end of the Christian’s life on this Earth (i.e. death).
God determines how Christians have served their Lord and Saviour Jesus during their lifetime on Earth. Faithful service that leads them to OBEYING Paul’s Gospel will guide them to the end of the Narrow Way (Romans 10:16). This is where the “Straight Gate” in Heaven is located.
This RACE is similar to a cross-country race, which can sometimes take several days to complete. Such a race requires the athlete to carry food, bedding and other needs throughout the journey. When in need, God supplies every Christian’s needs (and more) throughout this RACE (Luke 22:35).
In each Christian’s RACE, every participant must respond to this challenge in several ways.
1. Preparation
As with any race, the athlete is required to prepare and train for the event. Therefore, he or she will need:
- A map which (spiritually) represents the Bible;
- A compass, which (spiritually) represents the Holy Spirit’s presence;
- Directions, which come from other people along the way.
2. Running the Race
A King James Bible is the ONLY reliable Bible that is available today. It MUST be studied to the point where many key verses can be quoted from memory. This represents the requirement of obtaining a map .
Other requirements are:
- Locate and participate in a serious Bible study group and;
- Ask questions to fully understand what truth the scriptures are endeavouring to convey.
From the COMPASS perspective, Christians MUST:
- Commence a sincere prayer life. This means attending regular church prayer meetings. It also means going into one’s own ‘closet’ on a daily basis with God (Matthew 6:6).
- Develop a personal relationship with God the Father for personal instruction and learning from Him (John 6:45);
- Allow Jesus Christ to lead God’s children to where He wants them to be (John 10:27). It is here where they will find ‘pasture‘ (i.e. food, accommodation, friends) as being one of His “sheep” (John 10:9; John 10:27).
From the DIRECTIONS perspective, Christians must:
- Ask church leaders questions about their sermons they have preached. This is part of God’s means of training His people. It also holds ministers accountable for what they preach. It is also a source of gaining direction in the Christian life. This can indicate sometimes leaving the church for the ‘right’ reasons (Matthew 10:13-15).
- When the RACE gets too tough to bare, God usually brings other people into the Christian’s life – sometimes non-Christians. This can often be to give them some guidance, strength and encouragement while continuing to “strive” (Luke 13:24).
The need to GROW in Spiritual Maturity
Jesus spoke the Parable of the Sower and the Seed in Matthew 13:3-9 to His disciples.
The “seed” represents the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is preached by Christ’s evangelists as ‘bait’ placed upon their spiritual fishing lines (Matthew 4:19). The spiritual lesson in this parable is that the seed fell into different types of spiritual soil within each unbeliever’s heart. The common result is that most of the seed that fell into the soil (other than the “good soil“), failed to produce the required minimum quantity of spiritual fruit required by God for Salvation (i.e. 30 souls saved through evangelism – Matthew 13:8-9).
However, there is a personal cost to becoming a Disciple of Jesus Christ. Every New Christian MUST count this cost before accepting this role and the requirements that follow (Mark 10:17-22). This means that every unbeliever who accepts the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of Him becoming Lord of their life must become a Disciple of Jesus Christ (Luke 14:26-33).
Once a disciple has committed to walking with Jesus, such people are required to evangelise unsaved people. These disciples are then viewed by God as a spiritual plant that brings forth both spiritual fruit and seed (i.e. saved souls) unto God (John 15:1-2; Luke 13:6-9).
The various plant growth stages are depicted in the image below. These growth stages are replicated by Jesus in the parable of the Sower and the Seed.
The Eight Stages of Spiritual Growth
The image below depicts Eight Stages of Spiritual Growth that illustrate Christ’s similar growth pattern for God’s truly “born-again “children (2 Corinthians 6:18). The spiritual growth stages of an individual Christian’s lifetime are shown above the line.
However, Stages 1 and 2 below the line portray Christians who symbolise the “seed” that fell into a soil type other than “good soil“. It indicates that these Christians prefer to follow a man-based view of the Bible rather than to READ and DO IN FAITH what the Bible says (2 Thessalonians 3:14). The final result is a spiritual abortion – a deceased son or daughter of God (2 Corinthians 6:18).
The point here is that Satan enjoys murdering unborn babies in the womb in the physical world (i.e. abortion – John 8:44). He also likes to perform spiritual abortions within the churches. He achieves this result using false doctrines (i.e. heresies – Philippians 1:15-17; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
To learn more about what the above diagram represents, read this article titled, ‘The Eight Stages of Biblical Salvation‘.
Finally
The following verse at the beginning of this article was presented to remind the reader that Salvation is NOT ASSURED:
"Not every one [meaning every Christian] that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but [ONLY] HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)
Similarly, the following verse supports this claim
"For MANY [professing Christians] ARE CALLED [to spend eternity with Christ and God], BUT FEW [Christians from the many] ARE CHOSEN." (Matthew 22:14)
Those Christians who are located in the “many“group are those who prefer to “walk in the flesh” as stated in Romans 8:1. These are Christians who are not “spiritually minded” but are “carnally minded” (Romans 8:6). This word “carnal” means they prefer to follow the words of their favourite religious preacher rather than follow the words of their Saviour in the Bible.
However, for those who comply with the Bible’s requirements as stated above, these can have some degree of assurance of Salvation:
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course [or RACE], I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-9)
The complete framework for what it means to walk in the Spirit, including the two-kingdom model, the eight stages of spiritual maturity, and the scriptural case for why the flesh-Spirit conflict is the central mechanism of God’s testing of each soul, is in God’s Great Plan for Mankind REVEALED! by Alan Manson.
Built from over 300 KJV verses. This is the book is for the believer who has never been given a satisfying answer to this question.
Others who have read the book have posted their reviews here.
Get the paperback book on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Great-Plan-Mankind-REVEALED/dp/1764206843
Get the eBook on Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1927157
Other articles in this series are:
- In the Pre-Adamic world, did an Original Earth exist before Adam?
- Is ‘Salvation’ Simply Believing in Jesus?
- Biblical Salvation as viewed from the spiritual perspective
- What Does ‘Walking in the Spirit’ Mean?
- How Does God Test Believers?
- Who Is Satan in the Bible Really? <<Coming Soon>>
Invitation
I encourage you to share this article with your pastor and your trusted church members to determine for yourself whether the claims in this article are true or not.
On the contrary, if this article has caused you any concern about your Christian faith, feel free to post a comment or question in the Comments box below.
If you prefer to ask me a private question, feel free to contact me using my website’s Contact form.
Alan Manson
A Disciple of Jesus Christ
Retired engineer
Australia
