For many religious people, when they talk about salvation, they talk about “getting” saved. It is common to hear phrases like these:
- When did you get saved?
- I got saved when I was fifteen years old.
- Several people were getting saved at the revival.
However, despite how frequently we hear phrases like those in conversations with religious people, the Bible never talks about salvation in this way. Instead, the New Testament refers to people being saved.
This is significant because it emphasizes our dependence upon God for our salvation. Salvation is not something we “get” on our own. Instead, we are dependent upon God to save us. Even when there are conditions we must meet (which we will discuss), we are relying upon God to save us. Therefore, the New Testament talks about being saved (passive, something that is done for us) rather than getting saved (active, something we do or obtain for ourselves).
In fact, the New Testament describes aspects of our salvation (being saved) that relate to the past, present, and future. Let us consider a few different passages.
Salvation Promised
“And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).
“They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).
On the day of Pentecost, Peter cited the prophet Joel, who said that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered” (Joel 2:32). Not knowing what this meant, the people asked Peter what they needed to do, and he explained what it meant to “call on the name of the Lord.” He told them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). He specifically mentioned baptism as the act by which we call upon God to cleanse us of our sins and, therefore, save us. In his first epistle, he wrote, “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
When Paul was in Damascus after the Lord appeared to him, Ananias came to him and said, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16). It is in baptism that we appeal to God to save us. This is why Paul, after telling the Philippian jailer to believe in Jesus (Acts 16:31), immediately preached the gospel to him, and the jailer responded by being baptized “that very hour of the night” (Acts 16:32-33).
Although the New Testament does not speak about how to “get saved,” it does show us how to “be saved.” This salvation is promised to all who will believe in Christ and call upon His name – not as many in the religious world describe it, but as it is defined in the New Testament.
Past Salvation
“Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) […] For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:5, 8).
“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?” (Romans 8:24)
In the verses above, Paul was writing to Christians. Instead of saying that they “got saved,” he said they “have been saved.” Previously, they were “dead in [their] trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). However, God is “rich in mercy,” and “because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
How had they been saved? To answer this, it is helpful to consult Paul’s letter to the saints in Rome. As stated above, these brethren had “been saved” (Romans 8:24), but what was involved in that? Earlier in the letter, he described how they had become “obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which [they] were committed” (Romans 6:17). What “form of teaching” was this? He described it at the beginning of the chapter. As Jesus died, was buried, and was raised from the dead, they became dead to sin, were baptized into Christ, and were then raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). The pattern of belief (Romans 1:16), repentance (Romans 6:6), and baptism (Romans 6:3-4) was the same “form of teaching” presented throughout the book of Acts (Acts 2:37-38; 9:5, 9-11, 18; 16:30-34; et al.). This began on the day of Pentecost when “three thousand souls” received Peter’s message and “were baptized” (Acts 2:41). From that day forward, God continued to add to the church “those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). In fact, it was the same thing done in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-5) by those to whom Paul wrote which had “been saved” (Ephesians 2:5, 8).
When someone is “obedient from the heart to that form of teaching” (Romans 6:17) by believing in Christ, repenting of their sins, and being baptized into Christ, they “have been saved” by the grace of God for the hope of eternal life.
Present Salvation
“But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are” (Acts 15:11).
“By which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2).
When controversy arose in the early church over the issue of circumcision and whether it was required of Gentiles who were converting to Christ, the apostles and elders met in Jerusalem to discuss it (Acts 15:1-21). During this debate, Peter said that we “are saved” just as the Gentiles who were converting to Christ. This is the state of being in fellowship with God in which we “walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light,” so that we “have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
When Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, he used the same language (“you are saved”), but reminded them of a condition they needed to meet – “if you hold fast the word which I preached to you.” In other words, they were in a state of salvation, but they needed to continue following the word of God and holding fast to His promises if they wanted to remain in that condition.
As we noticed above, after someone obeys the gospel, they “have been saved” (past tense). Now, as Christians, they “are saved” (present tense) and remain in that condition throughout their lives as they continue to serve the Lord.
Future Salvation
“Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
When people speak about “getting saved,” they are usually emphasizing what they believe to be the point of conversion. As we have discussed, there is a moment in which we move into a “state” of salvation after we obey the gospel, God forgives us of our sins, and adds us to the church. That moment in time is important. However, even when Luke wrote about the first converts after the church was established on the day of Pentecost, he did not say that God added to the church those who were “getting saved,” but those who were “being saved.”
The importance of this distinction has to do with the fact that, while Christians are saved now, we also look forward to salvation. In his first epistle, Peter said that those who had been “born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” were awaiting “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3, 5). So while Christians are saved, we are also being saved.
Those who are “being saved” are the ones who have obeyed the gospel, just as the three thousand did on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-38, 41, 47). We must then “be faithful until death” in order to reach the reward that God has promised (Revelation 2:10). Even the apostle Paul did “not regard [himself] as having laid hold of it yet,” so he was determined to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). We must do the same.
Conclusion
Because it is so common to hear the phrase “get saved” (or similar), many people may not consider the theological significance of it. However, if we want to be Biblically accurate and use the language of Scripture, we should be careful not to speak about “getting” saved or how we “got” saved. Instead, we should use Biblical language as we talk about salvation.
- Those who are not yet Christians must be saved in order to have their sins forgiven and have the hope of eternal life.
- We have been saved after obeying the gospel and being converted to Christ.
- As Christians, we are saved and enjoy fellowship with God as part of His church.
- We will be saved when the Lord returns and welcomes the faithful to the home He has prepared for them in heaven.
We are to “speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11, NKJV), which means to speak the very words of God. Therefore, let us be careful with the language we use to describe salvation (along with every Bible topic). We do not want to run the risk of our careless language giving others (or even ourselves) the wrong impression of a subject so important as this.
