- How is a Sinner Saved?

5. How is a Sinner Saved From His Eternal Condemnation?

A sinner is saved from his eternal condemnation by the pure grace of the Triune God, without any co-operation, assistance or response of man. Any human response is the evidence or effect of that deliverance accomplished by divine grace alone.

Those whom God has predestined unto eternal life are by nature under the just wrath of God and the guilt of their sins deserving eternal condemnation. God sent His only begotten Son, who became flesh and “in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people,” i.e., His brethren, those given to Him by the Father. Christ did everything necessary to actually secure for all those given to Him by the Father both the justification of life by His perfect righteousness, and the forgiveness of sin through His sacrificial death for sin. He propitiated the just and holy wrath of God for the sins of His people. God is actually legally reconciled to His elect, Romans 5:6-10.

Christ’s death on the cross has secured the legal justification and adoption of all His elect, Rom 3:24-26, Gal 4:4-5. God, at His appointed and accepted time and by His Word and Spirit, applies the vital justification and adoption by effectually calling each condemned dead child of wrath to grace and salvation, thus turning each into a justified living child of God and bestowed with gifts to enable them to receive the gospel call. What is legal becomes vital, i.e. applied personally at effectual calling.

Apostle Peter explained these three operations of grace in one verse, when he wrote, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied” (1Pet 1:2). Here are the operations of grace that occur before the gospel can have any effect in a sinner’s life. There is election by the Father, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit based on the righteousness and blood of Christ. They are all of God free and gracious acts: there is no cooperation by the sinner, for he cannot and will not cooperate. Surely we all agree on these basic facts of the gospel? Therefore, a sinner is saved from his eternal condemnation by the grace of God alone, without any co-operation or response of faith. It is because a sinner has been saved from his eternal condemnation by divine grace alone, that he is enabled to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is pure and unadulterated biblical grace. This is the gospel. God saves His people by grace without their co-operation. Their responses evidence the divine gracious work of saving them.