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NASB | Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 2:5 even when we were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of our sins, He made us [spiritually] alive together with Christ (for by His grace--His undeserved favor and mercy--you have been saved from God's judgment). [Rom 6:1-10] |
Bible Question:
Is salvation a process or a one-time event? I'm studying 'being saved' and some verses speak of it as a past event, like the one referenced above. Other verses seem to speak of being saved as a on-going process. And yet other verses seem to speak of being saved as a future event. Can anyone help me to understand what is meant by 'being saved'? Verses that support salvation as a past event: Eph 2:5,8; 2 Tim 1:9; Titus 3:5 Verses that support salvation as a current, on-going process: Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 1:18; Titus 2:11 Verses that support salvation as a future event: Rom 5:9,10 Thanks for your help, brothers and sisters. In Him, Bill Mc |
Bible Answer: Our salvation is past, present and future. We have been saved from the penalty of sin, we are being saved from the power of sin, and we shall be saved from the presence of sin. "The New Testament articulates salvation in terms of past, present, and future time. In Christ we were elected before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4). In hope we were saved (Rom 8:24). Yet the cross is the power of God for those who are being saved (1 Cor 1:18). Likewise Paul's readers are admonished to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12). And there is yet a salvation that lies waiting to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5), a redemption for which we groan inwardly (Rom 8:23). "For Paul, the past dimension of salvation is generally conceived as justification, redemption, and reconciliation, while its present dimension is depicted in terms of the Spirit's sanctifying work. Its future dimension is said to be glorification, . . . wherein believers will experience Christ's presence in new and resurrected bodies no longer burdened by the vestiges of sin." William T. Arnold (Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology . Edited by Walter A. Elwell, 1996, Baker Books.) (http://bible.crosswalk.com/Dictionaries/BakersEvangelicalDictionary/bed.cgi) |