January 7, 2026

Salvation: Past, Present, and Future

BaptismFor 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.Continue Reading

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March 19, 2025

The Great Commission in the Book of Acts

Paul Before Agrippa

After Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, He gave His apostles the “Great Commission.” Notice the details of this commission that are recorded in the synoptic gospels:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned’” (Mark 16:15-16).

“And He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things’” (Luke 24:46-48).

In Luke’s account, we also see Jesus’ instruction to “stay in the city [Jerusalem, as] until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The gospel of Luke closes with the apostles witnessing the ascension of Christ and then returning to Jerusalem as Jesus instructed them to do (Luke 24:50-53).

In the book of Acts, Luke picked up where he left off and provided additional information about what happened during the “forty days” (Acts 1:3) between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. The final recorded statement Jesus made to His apostles was this:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

This verse is essentially a restatement of the Great Commission. It can also be thought of as the theme of the book of Acts, as it tells of the gospel being preached in Jerusalem (Acts 2-7), Judea (Acts 8:1; 11:1), Samaria (Acts 8), and to all the nations (Acts 10; 13-28).

As the book of Acts contains a record of the apostles carrying out the Great Commission, it also shows us two important points about this commission: (1) how to obey the gospel that the apostles were commissioned to preach and (2) how effective the work of preaching can be. Let us consider each of these.Continue Reading

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May 31, 2023

Will All Good People Be Saved?

Woman at sunset

Many believe that as long as someone is a “good” person, then that individual will go to heaven. But how do we define “good”? The Scriptures say that “there is none who does good” (Romans 3:12). Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19).

When we talk about “good” people, we are using a man-made definition. If people think an individual is a “good” person, they classify them in that way. Does having this designation mean that a particular person will be saved? Unfortunately not.

In this article, we will notice a few examples in the New Testament of “good” people who still needed to be saved. Then we will notice why simply being “good” alone will not save anyone.Continue Reading

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September 6, 2021

Road Trip (Part 4): The Road to Damascus

The Road to Damascus

On our final excursion in this series, we are going to see a man who was traveling down the road to Damascus. At this last stop, we are going to learn about converting the enemy.

“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

“As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.’ The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

“Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (Acts 9:1-9).

Saul would later be known as the apostle Paul and would go on make an incredible impact in spreading the gospel throughout his life. Yet at this point, he was an enemy of Christ and a persecutor of the church. Let us consider some lessons from his example.Continue Reading

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March 3, 2021

Unlikely Converts

Men on the subway

In the following passage, James described a scenario in which two individuals visited the assembly of the church. After they arrived, the brethren treated them differently based upon their appearances.

“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?” (James 2:1-4).

James warned these brethren that they were not to treat others differently based upon their appearances. He explained in the next verse that “God [chose] the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom” (James 2:5). Yet they treated the poor as if they were unimportant. By this kind of treatment, they were putting a barrier between these individuals and the salvation that the Lord offered to them – all because they made a judgment about them based upon their appearance.

Sometimes when we think of evangelism and converting the lost, we might have a picture in our minds of the type of person we could see being receptive to the gospel. However, if we are not careful we could subconsciously reject or overlook some who might have otherwise been interested (the single mother, the person with tattoos, the immigrant who speaks broken English, or, in the example given by James, the poor man who cannot afford nice clothes to wear to the assembly of the church). Sometimes the ones who are converted to Christ are not the ones we would expect.

The New Testament contains several examples of individuals who would have been unlikely converts because they did not fit the mold of one who might be considered a good prospect. Yet they obeyed the gospel and became disciples of Christ. Let us notice some of these in this article.Continue Reading

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June 12, 2019

How to Determine If One Is a Christian

Paul Before Agrippa

When Paul was on trial before King Agrippa, he used the opportunity to preach the gospel (Acts 26:19-23). One of the apostle’s goals was to persuade the king to become a Christian. Agrippa recognized this because he stated, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28).

We are trying to do the same thing today that Paul was doing on that occasion – trying to persuade people to become a Christian. However, if we are going to persuade them to become a Christian, we need to know what a Christian is. Also, they need to understand what a Christian is before they can be persuaded to become one.

So how can we determine if one is a Christian? How can one determine if he/she is a Christian or not? We can consult the Scriptures to find an answer.Continue Reading

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July 24, 2017

The Real Pharisees (Part 16): The Pharisees Overemphasized Making Converts

The Real Pharisees

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).

One might wonder how it could be possible to overemphasize making converts. After all, one of the principal works that we have been given – both individually and collectively – is to try to turn people to the Lord. The New Testament places a good deal of emphasis on making converts.
Continue Reading

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