Articles
What It Takes to Be Saved: Man’s Part
What It Takes to Be Saved: Man’s Part
Mike Willis
In previous articles in this column, I have written ten articles that emphasized God’s part in man’s salvation. I have emphasized God’s love, grace, and patience; I have written about the role that Jesus fills in human salvation and the part that the Bible plays in revealing God’s grace to mankind. I hope that our readers will not forget these articles and accuse me of not preaching grace as I now turn to address what is man’s role in his own salvation.
There are some who believe that the answer is nothing. THEOLOGICAL UNIVERSALISM is the belief that holds that all humankind will eventually be saved. It suggests that a loving and just God would not condemn anyone to eternal punishment, and that all souls will ultimately achieve salvation. In this view, man does not have to do anything to be saved. Although a very small percentage of people acknowledge belief in theological universalism, when one’s loved one who never made any effort to learn and obey God’s revealed will dies, people act as if that person will be saved. Jesus made clear to mankind that one must believe in Him and obey His commandments in order to be saved. Some of His final words were these: “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but WHOEVER DOES NOT BELIEVE WILL BE CONDEMNED’ ” (Mark 16:15-16).
There are some who believe that man is incapable of doing anything to be saved. A very popular doctrine in Evangelical Christianity is the doctrine of CALVINISM. Calvinism teaches that man is unable to do anything good until and unless God’s enables him to do that good. Their doctrine is “inherited depravity,” the idea that God passed on to all of Adam’s descendants the guilt of his transgression and, as a result, is “wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body” (Westminister Confession of Faith, 6.2). Inherited sin leaves man in this condition: “From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions” (Ibid., 6.4). The idea is that there is nothing that a man can do that has any affect on his salvation. God determines who will/will not be saved by His own act of Election/Reprobation. Those whom He chooses to save will be saved because God sent IRRESISTIBLE GRACE to enable him to believe and do good. The result of this doctrine is that man cannot make a freewill choice to be saved. Rather, God makes a choice of whether or not to save any given person: Each person is either ELECT or REPROBATE, based on God’s choice, not mankind’s freewill choice.
I am happy to tell you that neither Universalism or Calvinism correctly represents the Bible. The last book of the Bible makes this very concise statement: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; LET THE ONE WHO DESIRES (KJV: “whosoever will”) take the water of life without price” (Rev. 22:17). I am happy to teach that salvation is available to all of mankind, but will not be forced upon anyone who does not wish to choose it. God made mankind freewill beings, with the ability to choose or reject having fellowship with Him. So, the first thing that man must do to be saved is to make a freewill choice of whether or not he wishes to obey God. No person can make that decision for another. No one can force another person to choose to follow God, and God Himself does not force someone to follow Him. Man’s part in his salvation all begins with making a freewill choice to follow or reject God’s saving grace.
