Being saved refers to a
person placing their faith, their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior and being made right with God.
Jesus bled and died for our sins, and rose again, that we might have
salvation by believing in Him. So, Jesus
is the One who saves. He paid the price
for our salvation.
But, can a believer save a
soul? Many vehemently deny this
possibility. Many Calvinists (Reformed)
insist salvation is only God’s decision, even to the point that God has to save
or regenerate a person first, before he can believe. Therefore, a human being can do nothing for
their salvation. The Bible, however, is
not nearly that strict on salvation.
We sometimes get too picky
with our terminology. Sometimes we insist
others abide by our personal preferences, or we are ready to consign them to
perdition, or at least proclaim them ignorant believers.
Do I believe Jesus
saves? Of course I do. Do I believe salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone?
Yes (Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 4:12; John 14:6).
When it comes to salvation,
Jesus paid it all, but others participate in God’s salvation. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose
again. But the individual must repent
and believe in Jesus (John 1:12, 3:16, 36; 5:24; Romans 10:9-10, 13). And those who point others to Jesus also have
a part in that salvation.
Could it be proper to say, “I
saved a soul from an eternity without Christ”?
Regardless of what some might say, this is sound theology and it is biblical
theology. It is just looking at
salvation from a different angle. It also
brings out the truth of God being in charge, yet God giving man a free will to
participate in His salvation.
Do I have biblical evidence
for men and women saving others? Yes, I
do.
If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are
my flesh and save some of them. -Romans
11:14
Notice the Apostle Paul,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, referred to his saving some of his
countrymen.
For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save
your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? -1 Corinthians 7:16
Many a husband has been saved
by his wife. Many a wife has been saved
by her husband. How? The wife prayed for him, lived a godly life
in front of him, witnessed to him, pointed him to Jesus. Our “saving” others is biblical terminology,
plain and simple.
To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the
weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save
some. -1 Corinthians 9:22
Paul was willing to become all
things that he might “save some.” Paul
was willing to sacrifice to “save” others.
Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in
them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear
you. -1 Timothy 4:16
In one sense, you can “save”
yourself and others by taking heed to God’s Word.
Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error
of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. -James 5:20
A soul-winner in in the
business of “saving” souls. When you win
someone to the Lord, you are “saving” a soul from death.
But others save with fear, pulling them out of the
fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. -Jude 1:23
We are actually told to “save”
people. To save them with fear, knowing
that Hell is a reality.
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of
wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save
your souls. -James 1:21
In another sense, the Word of
God is able to “save” your souls.
Does this mean instead of
Jesus, a man can pay for and forgive sins and assure others a place in
Heaven? No, in that sense only Jesus can
save (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). But this
does mean that the Bible itself refers to Paul, the Word of God, others, and
you, saving a soul from death when you have a part in bringing someone to
Jesus.
Salvation is not nearly as
one-sided as some would have you believe.
God the Son is the One who bled and died for the salvation of the
world. The Holy Spirit moves and
convicts. But God calls on man,
possessed of a free will, to repent and believe. Further, God even recognizes the saving work
of man in pointing others to Jesus.
So, don’t get too demanding
in your personal preferences and shibboleths.
Jesus saves. But, according the Bible, man saves as he
sows the gospel seed to those lost and in need of a Savior.
Note: Fancy
words and defintions.
Monergism – God brings about
salvation regardless of an individual’s cooperation. The only way a man can believe is for God to
first regenerate or save him; only then can he believe in Jesus.
Synergism – God and the
individual cooperate in bringing about salvation. Jesus made the supreme sacrifice for all, but
man must exercise his God-given free-will in receiving salvation. This is the view that best fits with the
biblical evidence.
-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, September 6, AD 2016.
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Good article (actually first saw it in the SBC blog) and a subject of which I was under the impression no Christian scholar would actually agree with unless they were pelagian or semi-pelagian. In my own blog on the subject of revival I wrote:
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is true that strictly speaking only God saves, it is not true without the qualification that God uses men as believers as a means to save other men as sinners. That is, in salvation God uses men as an instrumental means. Only God can actually regenerate, but men, in accordance with the divine plan, are necessary to bring men to that state, that is, conversion, where regeneration that be divinely effected.
As Charles G. Finney stated, “There are many passages [in the Bible], which represent the conversion of sinners as the work of men.” Furthermore, he adds that the Bible “ascribe conversion to four different agencies – to men, to God, to the truth, and to the sinner himself.”
Since Christians seem to be more familiar with Bible texts that ascribe salvation as the work of God alone, I thought it would be helpful to point out below some verses that ascribe salvation also to man:
1. Men save themselves:
– Ezek 3:19 – “you will have saved yourself” (cf. v.21)
– Ezek 18:27 – “he will save his life”
– Ezek 18:31 – “make for yourselves a new heart”
– Mark 8:35 – “whoever loses his life…will save it”
– Luke 7:50 – “Your faith has saved you”
– Luke 28:42 – “your faith has healed you”
– 1 Tim 4:16 – “you will save both yourself and your hearers”
2. Men save others:
– Prov 11:30 – “he who wins souls is wise”
– Rom 11:14 – “in the hope that I may…save some”
– 1 Cor 9:22 – “by all possible means I might save some”
– 1 Tim 4:16 – “you will save…your hearers”
– James 5:20 – “Whoever turns a sinner…will save him”
– Jude 23 – “snatch others from the fire and save them”
Charles Finney gives this example: “There is a man who has been very ill. How natural it is for him to say of his physician: ‘That man saved my life.’ Does he mean to say that the physician saved his life without reference to God? Certainly not…It is true, then, that the physician saved him; and it is also true that God saved him. It is equally true that the medicine saved his life, and also that he saved his own life by taking the medicine.”
See: http://atdcross.blogspot.com/2014/04/revival.html