It’s what we all ultimately want, right? To have something greater than this life to look forward to. To have an eternal purpose that outlives our physical body. To have a hope that something better is to come. To have an escape from our woes. To be saved.
But there’s so many teachings on how to be saved. How do I know what is true and what is false? Of course, as I would hope all believers would tell me, I must go to the bible to find out what God says.
However, if this is the answer of all believers, why is there still different teachings on how to be saved if we are all using the same source as our guide? I can only speculate as to why I think that’s so, but in the end, what I think is more important is that we, as believers in God’s word and seekers of the truth, follow the example of the Bereans for “they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so (Acts 17:11 ).”
With this in mind, I want to start a series where we will examine the scriptures on how to be saved. This first post will lay out the basic steps of what I believe to be the true way to be saved and then I will do more posts that will go into more detail on why I have come to these conclusions versus other conclusions that are taught by different people.
This is an endeavor not only to share what I believe is the truth from God’s word but also a way to open the door to learn from others who may have questions or disagree. Paul instructed Timothy to “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).” If there’s a right way to divide the word then there is also a wrong way and in my diligence to present myself approved to God I need to be open to the fact that I could be wrong and so must you.
The bible is chock full of various teachings communicated in various ways spread across many books. There’s no formal list in one place with all the steps on how to be saved, but if I were to take all the scriptures I know that directly address how to be saved and create a list in sequential order, here’s what my list would look like:
1. Hear the word (Rom. 10:17, John 5:24)
2. Believe (John 3:16, Rom. 1:16)
3. Repent (Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38)
4. Confess (Matt. 10:32-33, Rom. 10:9-10)
5. Be baptized (Mark 16:16, 1 Pet. 3:21)
6. Live faithfully (Col. 1:21-23, Heb. 3:12-15)
That’s it in a nutshell. To keep it very basic I only listed a few supporting scriptures, but I will continue this series by addressing each individual step in one separate post each. My next post will be about what it means to hear the word. Stay tuned.
Truth in Love 