Salvation: AKA so much brain activity!

Posted by Sarah in God Is Great and Beer Is Good

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I honestly don't know how I strung together so many cohesive thoughts. I think part of the reason I can't explain myself very well to anyone anymore is just a sheer lack of brain cells. Pregnancy burns them man...burns them more than a cheech and chong after party.

Same class...same anger issues...different subject. I thought I'd post both sin and salvation just to give the whole picture:

We hear the word "salvation" tossed around quite frequently within our Christian circles. It is a biblical expression that has been set down to describe the changing work of Christ in an individual's life that changes him or her from an unbeliever in Christ to a beliver and thereby saves him/her from the penatly of sin. It is a term that appears both in the New Testament and the Old Testament, both before and after the cross of Christ.

Salvation is both instantaneous and progressive. Many times in our Christian circles the emphasis is placed on the first part and the second aspect is forgotten. We recognize the instantaneous work of Christ on the cross in our lives; how that reconciles us back to Christ through his blood and the satisfaction of the law, but the progressive work of salvation is quite often overlooked.

Instantaneous salvation involves the grace of God being extended towards the sinner and a forgiveness of the sin in which we live.

Progressive salvation on the other hand, involves the work of Christ in an individual's life to free them from the dominion of the flesh and form them to resemble Christ.

Christ was an example of perfection in the progressive work of salvation, an instrument of God wholly surrenedered to Him. A great example of this in the Old Testament is the account of the Isrealites leaving Egypt. God saved the Isrealites from the rule of the Egyptians and reconciled them back to him, which is in our lives a picture of the instantaneous salvation. That is not the end of the story, you see throughout the Israelites history that they continually needed the salvation of the Lord in their lives. While they were reconciled to God, and they where living in the Promised Land, which represents our life in Christ, they still struggled with the people that were living there. These groups, such as the Amalekites, gave Israel the trouble that provides a picture of the trouble our flesh gives us and the progressive work of Christ in our lives to continue to free us from those struggles. Through our instantaneous salvation we are freed from the penatly and the rule of sin. Through our progressive salvation we are freed from the dominion of sin in our everyday lives.

There are many aspects to both instantaneous salvation and progressive salvation. The aspects of instantaneous salvation involve our redemption by blood, our reconciliation to God, the propriation of God's wrath, the fulfillment of the law and the forgiveness of our sins. The aspects involved in progressive salvation include, evangelism, regeneration, sanctification and discipleship.

Salvation is something often heard about but rarely understood completely, even as Christians. While salvation itself is both instantaneous and progressive, the knowledge of salvation and our understanding of it's work in our lives is also both instantaneous and progressive.

Aw Holy Cheeseballs, if I have to type "instantaneous" or "progressive" one more time, my fingers will freeze up. For a much MUCH MUCH better discussion on this, read "The Saving Life of Christ" by Major W. Ian Thomas. I promise, it's not as boring as the title reads. It should be re-titled as "Super Amazing Awesome Book that Everyone Must Read"