Salvation — God acts, we respond, He changes us
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus as Lord.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us. It is a work of God’s grace whereby we who believe become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which we sinners respond in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conversion is our response to the gospel, in which we repent of sin and place faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and follow Jesus in obedience. Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for new and eternal life with Jesus.
Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which He (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight. God does this for all who repent and believe in Jesus. Justification brings us unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Jesus as we follow Him in our actual lives. It is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which we are set apart to God’s purposes, and are enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
Glorification is the final step in salvation. It will happen when Jesus returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died, and reunites them with their spirits, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like His own.
Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5.