Christian Salvation: Faith Alone | Cross & Crescent Ministries

Christian Salvation:

Faith Alone

Question: How is a person joined to Jesus for salvation?

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Overview

The New Testament contrasts two opposing views of salvation. The first is salvation through obedience to God’s law (what you must do) and the second is salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (what Jesus has done). Since the sin of humanity is universal, salvation through obedience to the law is impossible and unattainable. This is why salvation has been offered to humanity through faith in Jesus Christ.

These considerations explain the distinction made in the New Testament between salvation accomplished and salvation applied. Human salvation was accomplished (fully and completely) through the death and resurrection of Jesus and human salvation is applied or received through faith in Jesus. More precisely, Jesus did everything needed for our salvation by dying as an atoning sacrifice for sin (salvation accomplished), and we are to receive in faith what Jesus has done for us (salvation applied). It should be noted that obedience to the laws or commands of God is the outworking of salvation in Christ but not how a person is justified and declared righteous by God.

In summary, the consistent teaching of the New Testament is that salvation is the free gift of God’s grace given to humanity through faith alone in Christ alone. Salvation is by ‘faith alone’ because it is something that Jesus did and we receive. Salvation is by ‘Christ alone’ because only through Jesus is sin forgiven and salvation possible.

Salvation in Christ and by faith is the recurring teaching of the New Testament (John 1:9-13, 3:16-18, 3:35-36, 14:5-6, Acts 4:8-12, 13:38-39, 15:5-11, 26:12-18, Romans 1:16-17, 3:20-31, Galatians 2:11-21, 3:1-14 & Philippians 3:7-11).

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Bible Passages

John 1:9-13

(9) The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. (10) He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. (11) He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (12) Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - (13) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

John 3:16-18

(16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

John 3:35-36

(35) The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. (36) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

John 14:5-6

(5) Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

(6) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (7) If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Acts 4:8-12

(8) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! (9) If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, (10) then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. (11) Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ (12) Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Acts 13:38-39

(38) Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. (39) Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

Acts 15:5-11

(5) Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

(6) The apostles and elders met to consider this question. (7) After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. (8) God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. (9) He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. (10) Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? (11) No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Acts 26:12-18

(12) On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. (13) About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. (14) We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads."

(15) Then I asked, "Who are you, Lord?"

"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," the Lord replied. (16) "Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. (17) I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them (18) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."

Romans 1:16-17

(16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (17) For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Romans 3:20-31

(20) Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

(21) But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (22) This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, (23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (25) God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - (26) he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

(27) Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. (28) For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. (29) Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, (30) since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. (31) Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Galatians 2:11-21

(11) When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. (12) For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. (13) The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

(14) When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? (15) We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles (16) know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (17) But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! (18) If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. (19) For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. (20) I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (21) I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 3:1-14

(1) You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. (2) I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? (3) Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (4) Have you experienced so much in vain - if it really was in vain? (5) So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? (6) So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

(7) Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. (8) Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” (9) So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

(10) For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” (11) Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” (12) The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” (13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” (14) He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Philippians 3:7-11

(7) But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. (8) What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. (10) I want to know Christ - yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, (11) and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.