How is one saved?

[AdHoc]

Some people say you need to pray the sinner's prayer, some say believe in Jesus... is there a clear instruction from the Bible how to be saved?

[AdHoc]

... is there a clear instruction from the Bible how to be saved?

Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)

And how is one born again?

There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (I Corinthians 15:44)

Each of the two body types defined in the Bible require a separate and distinct type of birth:

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)

All natural bodied beings will die.

All spiritual bodied beings live forever.

Thus the only way for any natural bodied being to be saved from death is to be born again as a spiritual being:

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:5-7)

And how is one born again as a spiritual being?

[myth-one.com]

And how is one born again as a spiritual being?

Nicodemus asked that same question:

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? (John 3:9)

Jesus refuses to answer his question directly. His reply is that mankind cannot understand things of the spiritual world:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:11-12)

Jesus and the apostles have been teaching earthly matters and the Pharisees have not understood. If they cannot understand earthly teachings which are of their world, why should it be expected that they would understand heavenly matters of a different world? Therefore, Jesus does not answer His question. Sadly, this remains the situation two thousand years later. Man still does not understand the process of being born again!

The New Testament is a will. What one gains by becoming an heir under the will is one item: eternal life. Does this make any sense that the one thing we inherit is eternal spiritual life? We do not inherit new cars, cabin cruisers, ships, planes, vacation homes in every city on earth, seventy-two virgins, physical beauty, good physical health, etc. Why? Humans will cease to exist after the age of man ends. No possessions mentioned above will be needed in the spiritual world. Therefore, the one thing we inherit is a spiritual body as a member of the Kingdom of God. Any other item you can imagine has value only in the kingdom of man, which will pass away with man. One can become an heir to eternal life by believing in Jesus.

No one has ever seen any spiritual births to this date. So no one can explain or describe it.

And there is no reason to, because it does not concern our world.

But the act of being born again at the resurrection, and a comparison of natural versus spiritual bodies is found in First Corinthians:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It (the dead Christian human body) is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (I Corinthians 15:42-45)

So deceased Christians will be born again at the resurrection with incorruptible, honorable, glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies!

[AdHoc]

And how is one born again as a spiritual being?

Nicodemus asked that same question:

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? (John 3:9)

Jesus refuses to answer his question directly. His reply is that mankind cannot understand things of the spiritual world:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:11-12)

I'm so glad you brought up Nicodemus because after I read your reply I read that scripture with the question in my mind... "Really? Did Jesus actually refuse to answer Nicodemus' question? The same question I am asking?"

In John 3:10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?.

You know what this statement precedes don't you?

What follows next is only the most well-known and most essential passage of scripture about salvation. I have to think you knew this and were simply leading me to this to discover it myself.

John 3:15-17 - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

How is one saved? By believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Thank you.

[myth-one.com]

I'm so glad you brought up Nicodemus because after I read your reply I read that scripture with the question in my mind... "Really? Did Jesus actually refuse to answer Nicodemus' question? The same question I am asking?"

In John 3:10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?.

You know what this statement precedes don't you?

What follows next is only the most well-known and most essential passage of scripture about salvation. I have to think you knew this and were simply leading me to this to discover it myself.

John 3:15-17 - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

How is one saved? By believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Thank you.

Eh, don't thank me yet.

Your question: How is one saved?

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

These verses refer to mankind's possible salvation.

Although mankind must believe in Jesus as their Savior to be saved, these verses do not state that mankind is saved when they believe in Jesus.

The answer to "How is one saved" is as follows:

Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)

Believing in Jesus gets one's name written into the Book of Life.

But before one's first death, one could renounce that belief and their name would be appropriately deleted from the Book of Life. So believing did not "save" that person.

Only those whose names are in the Book of Life will be born again to everlasting spiritual life at the resurrection.

That is when they are saved from any further death.

The wages of sin is death, but they are saved forever from death by becoming immortal spirits.

Christians are not immortal spirits, they are physical human beings.

No Christian has ever been born again! All are heirs to salvation. They can lose that inheritance by renouncing Jesus as their Savior.

[AdHoc]

[Replying to post 878 by myth-one.com]

Yes but when we believe we also can receive the Holy Spirit.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!� The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

And then...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

While there is much yet to happen certainly we are given new life and are being transformed into Christ's image in this life once we believe in Christ as our Saviour.

[Ken Worth 64]

[Replying to post 1 by AdHoc]

There is nothing ambiguous about Jesus' criteria for being saved. See Matthew 22, v 35 - and Matthew 24, v 35-.

The interesting thing is that there is nothing in the criteria that has anything to do with the exercise of religion in the ordinary sense of the word, or even about praising God.

It is all about how you relate to your "neighbour" and in this sense God is your neighbour, as is anyone you deal with, wife, husband, friend, people you come across, etc. Even God may be considered as your neighbour. See also John 4, v 20, 21.

Interesting, isn't it?

Ken at houldken@gmail.com

[squint]

For fun and flavor.

What are we saved from?:

-enemies (Luke 1:71- 74)
-Gentiles (Acts 26:17)
-money (Luke 19:8-10)
-sinking (Mat 8:24-25,Mat 14:30)
-earthly trials (2 Pet 2:9)
-Egyptians (Jude 1:5)
-war (Luke 1:79)
-Death (Mark 15:30-31,Mark 3:4,Luke 6:9,Luke 23:35-39,John 12:27,Acts 27:43; 2 Tim 1:8-10,Heb 5:7; James 5:15,James 5:20). Many of the references to being saved from death seem to refer to a kind of spiritual death
-sickness (Luke 7:50,Luke 13:16,John 3:16)
-loosing one’s life to save it, in effect saved from ourselves (Mark 8:34-38,Luke 9:23-25)
-sins (Mat 1:21,Luke 1:77,John 1:29,John 8:33-36,Acts 5:31,Acts 13:36-39,Acts 26:18; 1 Pet 2:21-25)
-slavery to evil behaviour and passions (Tit 3:3-5)
-slavery to sin (Rom 6:16-23,Rom 7:21-25, 8:1-4, 1 Tim 1:15)
-slavery to futility and bondage to decay (Rom 8:19-21)
-slavery to the mastery of darkness (Col 1:13-14)
-captivity to the present evil age (Gal 1:3-4)
-slavery to the elemental spirits of the universe (Gal 4:3-6,Gal 4:31-5:1)
-impiety and worldly passions (Tit 2:11-14)
-a corrupt generation (Acts 2:40)
-the defilements of this world (2 Pet 2:20)
-a pointless life following the ruling powers of evil (Eph 2:1-5)
-futile ways of living (1 Pet 1:18-19, 1Pet 2:1-2?).
-the devil (my personal favorite of course) (Mat 6:13,Luke 13:16,Acts 26:18; Heb 2:14-15; Rev 12:10; 2 Tim 4:18)
-our fleshly bodies (Phil 3:20-21)
-going astray (1 Pet 2:21-25)
-not being in the Kingdom of God (Mat 19:23-26)

There are more than likely many 'hows' attached to all of the above, some running on a continual basis.

squint

[myth-one.com]

[Replying to post 878 by myth-one.com]

Yes but when we believe we also can receive the Holy Spirit.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!� The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

And then...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

While there is much yet to happen certainly we are given new life and are being transformed into Christ's image in this life once we believe in Christ as our Saviour.

You are absolutely correct!

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)

And yes, the Holy Spirit enters believers. But it is the Holy Spirit's spiritual body -- not ours!

We (Christians) are still persons and not yet spirits:

There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (I Corinthians 15:44)

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)

No Christian has yet been born again of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comforts and resides in us until we are born again as spiritual beings at the Second Coming.

The Holy Spirit or Comforter was not sent to Christians until Jesus departed the earth. Jesus spoke the following to the apostles shortly after his resurrection:

And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (Acts 1:4-5)

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (John 16:7)

Christians become new creatures (not spirits) in their efforts to be like Christ.

While Jesus was on the earth, believers had Him as their human model to immulate.

The Holy Spirit was sent to comfort, guide, and assist Christians in this effort when Jesus departed to Heaven to prepare our place:

...I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)

[ThePainefulTruth]

Some people say you need to pray the sinner's prayer, some say believe in Jesus... is there a clear instruction from the Bible how to be saved?

Both Jesus and John the Baptizer preached salvation through repentance. Paul was the one who came up with salvation through blind faith.

[myth-one.com]

Some people say you need to pray the sinner's prayer, some say believe in Jesus... is there a clear instruction from the Bible how to be saved?

Both Jesus and John the Baptizer preached salvation through repentance. Paul was the one who came up with salvation through blind faith.

Repentance is the act of reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs.

Repentance is not synonymous with salvation.

Repentance leads one to seek salvation from their past misdeeds. Or "salvation through repentance" as you stated it.

Jesus tells us what we must do to be saved:

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:5-7)

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The wages of sin is death.

To gain salvation from the wages of our sins we must be born again as a spiritual being which cannot die.

But first, one must seek salvation.

Repentance sets one on that course.