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NASB | Psalm 68:19 ¶ Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Psalm 68:19 ¶ Blessed be the Lord, who bears our burden day by day, The God who is our salvation! Selah. |
Subject: Salvation: Instantaneous, progressive? |
Bible Note: Greetings Joe, I believe that salvation is an instantaneous event, not something that happens over and over again. I believe that our faith is an essential characteristic of our Christian walk, and that we must have it in order to be saved (Ephesians 2:8) or even to please God (Hebrews 11:6). I believe that we continually and constantly live with this salvation that has been given to us by grace (after we have been saved), and I believe that it has an effect in every part of our lives! However, I believe that salvation is not something that is "progressive", even though we must 'progressively' have faith and can "grow" in faith. I also believe that we have been positionally "set apart" when we join the family of God at salvation and confess Him as Lord, regardless of the spiritual state that we have when we come into salvation (1 Cor. 6:11, Hebrews 10:10). But we, of course, are to be "increasingly" set apart in our daily lives (1 Peter 1:16). In the positional sense, no one is more sanctified than another, but in the experimental aspect it is quite correct to speak of one believer as being more sanctified than another. This is where the NT exhortations concerning spiritual growth come into play. Also, I believe that we will not fully be "set apart" to God until our position and practice are brought into perfect accord, and this will only occur when we see Christ and become as He is (1 John 3:1-3). This is our ultimate or future sanctification, which awaits our complete glorification with resurrection bodies (Eph. 5:26-27; Jude 24-25). So, yes, we have been saved! However, the completion of this "journey with Christ" can only be complete when we meet Christ at the finish line. But between the point at which we are saved to the point where we reach the finish line, we are not continually "being saved" over and over again. Yes, we sway and turn away, and then turn back, and then turn away, but a true Christian is characterized by being an overcomer of this world. If one eventually does completely renounce Christ, then I believe that they were never saved to begin with, since I believe that the Lord's promise to us is faithful and true, and that He will perfect that which He has begun. One cannot lose salvation one day and have it the next, and one cannot lose their salvation on a "whim." I do not believe that salvation is lost if we haven't repented for each and every sin that we have committed, although we should repent of each sin, even after we are saved. Our positional and eternal status has been decided and settled forever when we first accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. However, the process of sanctification and of repenting of our sins stops only at the moment we reach the finish line, where every promise will be fulfilled. Blessings to you, Nolan |