The Order of Salvation
By Dr. Ken Matto
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. (Romans 10:13)
There is a great confusion in Christianity concerning the
way a person becomes saved and this confusion has been going on for hundreds of
years. This continues to happen
simply because Christians will not go to the Bible and see what God has to say
about salvation. It is all in there
and no one has to create scenarios to appease people.
The bottom line is that salvation happens in an instant in the lives of
the Elect but what took place to effect the salvation of the Elect has happened
over many thousands of years. The
title of this article is “The Order of Salvation” in which the old timers refer
to it in Latin as the “Ordo Salutis.”
It basically describes the steps that the Holy Spirit takes to effect a
person’s salvation. I am not going
to get into the theological aspects of it because in this article I want to look
at biblical salvation from spiritual death to life.
The intimate aspects of the “Ordo Salutis” can be studied at one’s
leisure.
We have all heard things like the Roman Road to
Salvation, God did all he could and now it is up to you, it is like signing a
check which requires two signatures and God already signed it and now it is up
to you to sign. These type of
beliefs sound religious but they are in no way biblical. Let me point out right
at the beginning that nowhere in the Bible does God ever place man in charge of
his own salvation. There is not one
verse which teaches that. All of
these pet beliefs come out of the system known as “Arminianism” which teaches
that a person has enough light to understand and know their plight and has the
intelligence to either accept or reject Christ.
A spiritually dead person cannot accept Christ and the Elect of God
cannot reject Christ. Yet man
places the responsibility for his salvation upon himself.
For illustration I want to show you from a Chick tract what I mean:
1. Admit you are a sinner – Romans 3:10
2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent) Acts 17:30
3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried and
rose from the dead – Romans 10:9-10
4. Through prayer, invite Jesus into your life to become
your personal Saviour – Romans 10:13
Then they go on and give you a Sinner’s Prayer which you
are supposed to repeat and then immediately you are saved.
In those 4 instructions, do you read anything about God being the one who
does the saving? Do you see the
works you must do to gain salvation their way?
Admit>turn>believe>invite, all four works are done by the person
receiving the tract which means it is totally up to the person to effect their
own salvation because if they don’t, then they cannot be saved.
This basically the false teaching of “Free Willism” which basically
teaches that man has authority in salvation, even more than God, because if the
person does not give their permission to God to save them, then God has become
impotent and cannot work beyond the permission of the human.
Can anyone find me a Scripture verse which endorses the belief that man
has more authority in salvation than God has?
I will give you a hint, there are none!
Let us now attend to the biblical order of salvation.
Man’s
Condition in an Unsaved State
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1)
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (Ephesians 2:5)
And you, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses; (Colossians 2:13)
The word “dead” in all three verses is the Greek word
“nekrous” which means “lifeless, useless, and dead.”
So we see that a person in an unsaved state is spiritually dead which
means they have physical life but not spiritual life.
We have all been to funerals and the person in the casket never speaks.
Why? Because they are dead!
In John 12:1 the same word is used to describe Lazarus.
Then Jesus six days before the
passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised
from the dead. (John 12:1)
Was Lazarus dead? He sure
was! So we see the same word which
described Lazarus as being physically dead is used to describe the unbeliever
who is spiritually dead. Here is
one more biblical proof. Do you
believe that Christ died on the cross?
The Bible clearly teaches that he did whether you believe it or not.
And go quickly, and tell his
disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before
you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. (Matthew 28:7)
The same word that described Lazarus in the tomb is used here to describe
the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb.
So we have the same word used to describe both physical death and spiritual
death.
So what did Jesus and Lazarus have in common besides
physical death? They both walked
out of their tombs after they experienced a resurrection to life.
Resurrection
to Life
The same situation which Lazarus and Jesus experienced
must be experienced by the person in an unsaved state.
Since they are spiritually dead and the dead can do nothing, then they
must experience the resurrection of their souls to everlasting life.
A great aspect of God’s salvation program is He gave us a resurrected soul. We
have already read that before salvation we were dead in our sins resulting in
the inability to do anything to achieve salvation on our own. So what did God do
to those He planned to save? The Bible teaches in Romans 10:17 that faith comes
by hearing the Word of God. Now everybody has physical ears which can hear
sounds and many of those physical ears come under the hearing of the Word of
God, yet those still in spiritual death will be unable to respond to God’s
calling. So for God’s elect to be able to respond to His calling they must be
qualified to hear the gospel in a manner beyond the physical realm. The way God
accomplished this is by the resurrection of the dead soul. When a person
receives their resurrected soul, they are then alive unto God.
Do you remember the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11? Lazarus was as
dead as could be, in fact the Biblical narrative even tells us his body stunk
from decay after being in the grave 4 days. Our dead souls were akin to that
same condition, they were dead. So Christ comes to the tomb and yells out to
Lazarus to come forth, and Lazarus was resurrected to life once again. When God
calls out our name for salvation, He resurrects our soul so we may be able to
hear his calling, hence the biblical term, "He who has ears to hear."
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy
is he that hath part in the
first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand
years. Revelation 20:5-6
These two verses give us an excellent understanding of the first resurrection or
the resurrection of the soul. Notice the result of those who partake in the
first resurrection, the second death has no power over them. The second death
being eternal damnation. When a person becomes born again, they are passed from
death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but
is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)
Notice how the Lord is saying that those who HEAR His word and believes and the
only way a dead person can believe is to be made alive or resurrected like
Lazarus. The word “heareth” in this verse is the Greek word “akouw” (ah-koo-oh)
which means hearing with understanding.
How does a spiritually dead person understand spiritual things?
But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
The unsaved man cannot understand spiritual things according to 1
Corinthians 2:14 because he is spiritually dead.
As Lazarus was passive in his resurrection, so are the children of God passive
in their resurrection also. It is all of God! Did Lazarus have anything to do
with his resurrection except receiving it? No! How can a dead man raise himself?
So you see, you are still in the flesh until the Lord returns or comes for us
individually but now because of your resurrected soul, you serve God instead of
sin. Sin no longer has dominion over us but now we serve a new master.
Now as we progress further we now come to the second gift
of God. We went from spiritually
dead to spiritually alive by means of our resurrected souls.
Therefore we are buried with him
by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans
6:4) The English words “was
raised up” is one word in the Greek text and it is in the Aorist tense and in
the indicative mood which is the mood of fact.
The Aorist tense tells us of a singular action with no emphasis on time
or duration. When the Aorist tense
is in the Indicative mood, then time enters into the equation very heavily.
It is seen as a punctiliar verb as a past tense meaning an action at one
point in time. Now a question
remains, have you been resurrected into your glorified body?
The answer is no, not yet!
Then the resurrection in view in Romans 6:4 is in line with the resurrection of
our souls taught in Revelation 20:5-6.
The Aorist tense can also be viewed as a single action.
We were raised only once in our souls and that is why we are raised from
death unto life as we read in John 5:24.
The spiritual resurrection takes place only once in the life of a true
believer.
Now that we have received our resurrected souls and now
are alive unto God, we receive the third gift from God and that is faith.
Faith
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (Galatians 5:22)
Here we read plainly the faith is one of the fruits of
the Holy Spirit. Only those who
have become saved will have been given faith to see beyond this world.
But ye are not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)
The Bible is very clear that if you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you
are not of Christ which means you are unsaved.
Everyone on earth has a certain amount of faith including the
unbelievers. The type of faith the
unbelievers have is limited only to this world.
For example, I have faith my car will not break down, I have faith that
the chair I am sitting on will not fall, I have faith the stock market will
rise, etc. Faith in the realm of
salvation is given only to God’s Elect.
(For we walk by faith, not by
sight:) (2 Corinthians 5:7) The
world walks by sight but the child of God walks by faith.
Then once we have faith we receive the fourth gift of God
and that is Belief.
Belief
Now that you have the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling
you and you now have faith, you are now able to believe.
The word “Faith” in the Greek text is always a noun which is a person,
place, or thing. The word “believe”
in the Greek text is always a verb which means it is a work but it is a work
done after salvation not before.
But we are bound to give thanks alway to
God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth: (2 Thessalonians 2:13)
Now that you have a bed of eternal faith to build on, you can now believe
building on your faith. The
unbeliever is dead and has no living faith but when you became saved, you
received the Holy Spirit and he gave you a living faith which you now can build
your beliefs upon. Before you were
saved everlasting life was a myth, Jesus was a nice guy or even a fraud, the
church is made up of myths, atheism, agnosticism, endorsing the sins of the
world, etc. Now after you are
saved, you realize your beliefs were wrong and all of a sudden those things
which you endorsed as an unbeliever now are evil in your sight.
Why? Because you now have a
true belief system rooted in the truth of God.
Everlasting
Life
He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)
Here in John 3:36 we see the great division.
Those that are saved and evidence that salvation by believing on the Son
has everlasting life. Those who do
not have the Son and are tied to this world, are under the wrath of God.
There is no in between or neutral area.
Either a person is saved or they are not.
Summary of the
Visible Section
Just to summarize the section on the visible salvation
and what I mean by that is what we experience as true believers.
The next section will show what the LORD did behind the scenes to effect
your salvation. In this section we
saw that a person is spiritually dead and totally unable to raise themselves but
God in his mercy chose to raise many from spiritual death and bring to them
salvation. So we go from being
spiritually dead and a state of impotence to a resurrected soul which now breeds
spiritual life into us and then we are given faith by the indwelling Holy Spirit
and then we have the ability to build on that faith by true belief and within
the gift of the resurrected soul and the Holy Spirit is the fact that we have
everlasting life.
Now within what you have read here and the Scriptures
describing these things, where does man fit in having the ability to do any of
those things from a state of spiritual death?
How does the spiritually dead person raise themselves from the dead and
then put the Holy Spirit within themselves?
But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26)
The Holy Spirit is sent unto the believer by the Lord Jesus Christ but
comes from the Father. How does a
spiritually dead person command the Father and the Son to dispatch the Holy
Spirit to them?
Salvation
Behind the Scenes
Now we have seen the visible aspects of salvation but now
we are going to look at what God did to effect your salvation without you even
knowing about it, in fact even before you were born.
Named Before
the Foundation of the World
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall
ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on
the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from
the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is
not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8)
Here we see two verses which plainly teach that God had
named those he was going to save from the foundation of the world, that is, even
before the world was created or before you and I were created.
Elected
according to the foreknowledge of God
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1 Peter 1:2)
Once you were chosen by God and placed into the Lamb’s
Book of Life according to the foreknowledge of God you were then elected to
salvation. The Greek word
“eklektos” behind the English word “Elect” means “chosen.”
At this point you were elected unto salvation.
Predestinated
Then once we were elected by God for salvation, he then
predestined us for two things: First, he predestined us to be saved at some
point in our lives that he determined beforehand and secondly, we are
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will: (Ephesians 1:11)
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
Salvation
Realized
Then upon the appointed time of you salvation, God the
Father then gives you to God the Son.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up
again at the last day. (John 6:39)
In these two verses we see important doctrines.
In 6:37 we see that those whom the Father gives to the Son “shall come to
him.” Do we see anything about a
decision? It is known as
“irresistible grace” because if you are named>elected>predestined then at some
point in your life you will become saved and in 6:39 we read that the Lord Jesus
Christ will not lose anyone which means “eternal security” as you cannot lose
your salvation which is a promise from the Lord Jesus himself.
Summary
So we see plainly that this is the biblical way in which you became saved. No decisions are ever involved and there is no such thing as God needing your permission to work in your life. Instead of redefining biblical salvation to make it look like you did anything to effect it, bask in the joy that you were named before the foundation of the world. Then think about the alternative if you were not named. It makes you appreciate your salvation even more.