By Dr. Judith R. Coats
One afternoon, I sat with a woman for the express purpose of asking her about her walk with God. She responded, “I prayed the prayer when I was 12. I’m good to go.” Then she said, “Why would anyone want to go to Heaven. It sounds so boring to sit around and sing all the time. I’m not that impressed.” At the time, she had no interest in other believers, no interest in a church body, no interest in Bible or Christian literature, no interest in praise and worship music, no interest in the imperatives of the New Testament. However, she was thoroughly convinced that she was going to avoid Hell because “she prayed the prayer.” And people all her life told her that she was “saved.” She definitely did not have any fruit in her life whatsoever. “By their fruits, you will know them (Matthew 7:16).” Sadly, there was not a spec of fruit. And Jesus said that “if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.” The two Great Commandments in the NT are to love Him whole-heartedly and to love neighbors as ourselves. You cannot interpret those imperatives any other way. A close friend of this woman told me this: “Well, she loves God in her heart.” The people that surround unsaved people telling them that they are saved because “they prayed the prayer” are doing irreparable harm. Are they true believers?
What has the salvation message traditionally been in many circles–in churches, on radio?
How can we rectify years and generations gone by of an emphasis on what “we do” in salvation so that we may have a ticket to Heaven? How can we rectify an egregious misconception that salvation is about me? How can we turn the tide to a pure Gospel message that is all about God’s crushing of His Son so that we could have a relationship with Him? RELATIONSHIP is the key word here. Many speakers have pushed a false, weighty narrative of “when did you pray?” or “how did you pray?” or “you must remember the time and date” or “if you did not say these words, you are not saved” or “don’t you want to avoid Hell?” The emphasis was wholly on avoiding Hell and taking care of your future by assuring Heaven. It almost sounded like a life insurance salesperson’s pitch, sadly. We saw a church sign recently that said, “Do you want to go to Heaven?” Why not post something like this instead: “Come to know our wonderful Savior.”
For years, surrounded and bombarded by fire and brimstone preaching, many folks live and lived under a “self-made” salvation. Keep the list of dos and don’ts; then you’ll be fine through life. I sincerely believe that many people have no clue what salvation really is and have lived lives “doing salvation” on their terms: “I prayed the right prayer.” “I keep the rules.” “I attend church.” What is the difference between this mindset and other religions? Muslims could say the same: “I pray five times a day.” “I keep the rules.” “I attend mosque.”
Salvation is not about avoiding Hell. Salvation is not a “get out of jail” free card. Salvation is not about what “we do.” Salvation is not about praying the perfect formula prayer. Salvation is not ever about me. Salvation is nothing that we could merit. Salvation is so, so, so much more and so, so, so much better.
Salvation is what God does. Because God does the saving, we are changed forever. How can I know I’m saved?
Salvation is a relationship with a great, loving, good, gracious, and sovereign God through the work of his loving son, Jesus. Salvation is the work of the Spirit and the Spirit alone. He is the one that draws us, and He is the one that puts this wonderful love (Romans 5) and gratitude in our hearts. How do we enter such a relationship or find such a relationship? Coming by faith and belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, acknowledging our need for Him as a broken sinner, trusting in the work of Jesus’s resurrection and display of power over death, producing an end result of an ever-growing gratitude that drives us to love Him and to desire to live for Him–this is the Good News. All of the focus becomes the work of God’s Son and the love of a Heavenly Father willing to sacrifice His Son for us.
Salvation may be unspoken as a person comes to the end of himself or herself, yielding to the Spirit sitting in solitude in an apartment; or salvation may be a quiet recognition sitting in a car in a parking lot coming to the end of doing life “my way” and giving one’s life to God; salvation may come as the Spirit enlightens someone’s heart during some preaching of the text. The Spirit’s drawing will vary for everyone. This drawing of the Spirit may involve a verbal prayer, but that prayer will be a heart cry to love Jesus instead of an insurance guarantee for self-gain. We do believe that salvation is an entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ at a specific point in one’s life–being born into the family of God (John 12). In other words, there is a time that we are dead in sin; and then there is a time that we are alive in God. People do not “grow” into salvation. They grow in faith after salvation. People do not “always know Jesus.” They come to know Him by faith in His finished work. People do not inherit salvation from parents. They must make a personal decision.
It is not complicated. If Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me (Matthew 19:14),” then why have folks made this relationship so complicated and limited and self-made? The past 60 years or so in twentieth century American Christianity especially, we have seen great damage done through the man-made emphasis on “Do you want to be in Heaven?” “Do you want to avoid Hell?” “Did you pray the prayer correctly?” In those circles, we rarely heard the glories of the Gospel and the rich relationship that we could enter as we yield our lives to a loving, good, sovereign Savior. A relationship is not the same thing as a ritual.
Excellent Article! Thank you.