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In these affirmations we seek to provide concise answers to basic questions:  What is Salvation?  From what or from whom do we need to be saved?  What do the terms, “regeneration” and “sanctification” mean?  What role do we play in our own salvation?  What role does faith play?  Where does faith come from?  What does it mean to be “born again?”  Why did Christ die on the cross?

The Bible teaches that Christians should always stand ready to explain their faith and the certain expectation they have about what will happen when they die:

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” I Peter 3:15, KJV

 The non-believer may ask, “What exactly is it that you think I need to be saved from?”  The Christian should be prepared to answer promptly, confidently and concisely, but with patience and kindness.

We hope these affirmations will help bring God’s salvation plan into sharper focus and help you to explain His plan to others more clearly.  We also hope these affirmations will prove useful to you in your ongoing study God’s Word.

  1. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, all men have been sinful by nature.
  2. The penalty for sin is death.
  3. Death as penalty for sin means spending eternity in hell after leaving this life.
  4. God in His mercy provided a way for some sinners to escape hell.  That escape is called salvation.
  5. A person who is saved is saved from spending eternity in hell.
  6. A person who is saved is saved from the wrath of God.
  7. The choice of who will be saved and who will not be saved is God’s.
  8. When they die, those whom God has chosen to save go to heaven instead of hell.
  9. Heaven is the dwelling place of God and a place of eternal bliss.
  10. We do not have much detail about heaven, but we know it is free from all forms sin and free of sorrow.
  11. There is no unhappiness, there are no tears and there is no suffering in heaven.
  12. Salvation is a gracious gift from God, an act of voluntary mercy.
  13. By engaging in this act of mercy (salvation), God does not suspend His justice.
  14. The penalty for sin, which is death, must still be paid.
  15. Sin must be punished in order to satisfy God’s justice.
  16. Just as a man’s earthly debts may be paid by another, so can a man’s heavenly debts be paid by another.
  17. A sinner’s heavenly debts, the debts he owes to God, cannot be paid by another mortal man (another sinner).
  18. Because no mortal man can pay for the sins of another, God sent His Son, Jesus, to pay for the sins of men.
  19. Jesus came to pay for the sins of some men, but not all men.
  20. Jesus came to pay for the sins of those chosen by God the Father before the earth was made (before the foundations of the earth).
  21. If Jesus had paid for the sins of all men, every man would go to heaven and no man would go to hell.
  22. Because we know from Scripture that many men will spend eternity in hell, we can know that Jesus did not pay for the sins of all men.
  23. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to save all men, but applicable only to saved men.
  24. Christ atoned for sin on behalf of those whom the Father chose to save by taking their place, substituting Himself and suffering the Father’s punishment on their behalf.
  25. Christ stepped into the shoes of those whom He came to save and took the punishment for their sins upon Himself.
  26. Christ accomplished this by living a perfectly sinless life on earth and willingly giving that life, the perfect sacrifice, suffering death by crucifixion and the equivalent of an eternity in hell as payment for the sins of others.
  27. Only those sinners who place their faith in Jesus, the Christ, are saved by His sacrifice on the cross.
  28. It is faith or lack of faith in Christ that determines whether or not a man is saved from an eternity in hell.
  29. Christ did not die for all. Christ died for all who have faith in Him.
  30. There are many for whom Christ did not die.
  31. Those people for whom Christ did not die are destined for hell.
  32. Faith in Christ is a gift of God.
  33. Faith in Christ comes by hearing the Word of God.
  34. Salvation is by faith alone and not by anything we do.
  35. Before one is saved, he is spiritually dead.
  36. When God saves someone, He makes that person spiritually alive.  This is called regeneration or re-birth.
  37. Regeneration (re-birth) precedes faith and is what Christians mean when they refer to being “born again.”
  38. As a practical matter, regeneration and the arrival of faith in Christ may occur simultaneously or nearly simultaneously, but no man can come to Jesus in faith unless he has been “born again.”
  39. We cannot earn our way into heaven by things we do (good deeds).
  40. A place in heaven is a free, unearned and undeserved gift from a gracious God.
  41. Faith in Jesus is the only way to heaven.
  42. No one enters heaven except through Jesus.  Non-Christians find this assertion highly offensive.
  43. When a sinner is saved, his sins are imputed to Christ, as if Christ Himself had committed those sins.
  44. When a sinner is saved, Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to the sinner, as if the sinner had lived the perfectly righteous life of Christ.
  45. It is Christ’s perfect righteousness that makes His atonement for the sins of others acceptable to God.
  46. Nothing less than Christ’s imputed righteousness can make a man eligible to enter God’s heavenly kingdom.
  47. Before a person is saved, he is a child of Satan and an enemy of God.
  48. When a person is saved, he becomes reconciled with God, no longer an enemy of God.
  49. When a person is saved, he becomes an adopted child of God.
  50. When a person is saved he is given the privilege of addressing God as Father.
  51. As adopted children of God, Christians are brothers and sisters with one another and with Jesus.  All are part of the family of God, Jesus as God’s only “begotten” Son and Christians as his adopted children.
  52. There is a beautiful parallel between the earthly family and the family of God:  Just as an earthly child both loves and fears his earthly father, Christians both love and fear their Father in heaven.
  53. When a person is saved, a process begins whereby the new Christian begins to shed his evil ways and becomes more and more like Christ.  This is the life long process that the Bible refers to as sanctification.
  54. After a person is saved he is no longer hostile toward God.
  55. After a person is saved he wants God in his thoughts.
  56. After a person is saved he wants to learn as much about God as he can.
  57. After a person is saved he seeks to please God.
  58. After a person is saved he tries to avoid temptation.
  59. After a person is saved he hates his own sin and resists evil.
  60. The process of sanctification is usually quite gradual and not completed until a man enters heaven, when the last traces of sin will finally be gone.
  61. While we dwell on earth, sanctification can be frustrating.
  62. During sanctification, we come to hate our own sin, yet we seem unable to eliminate it from our lives.
  63. Progress in sanctification, however slow, is a clear sign that a person truly is saved and a genuine child of God.
  64. Frustration at the slow pace of sanctification is a sign that a person is truly saved.
  65. When a person is regenerated, The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within him.
  66. The Holy Spirit is an ever-present guide and helper.
  67. Before a person is saved, he is very vulnerable to Satan’s assaults.  He is easy prey.
  68. After a person is saved, he is much less vulnerable to Satan’s assaults.  Satan may tempt and accuse, but cannot dominate a person who is indwelt by The Holy Spirit.
  69. When a person is saved, his spiritually dead soul is made alive or “quickened.”  This is called re-birth.
  70. The re-birth that leads to faith and salvation is what Christians mean when they say they are born again.
  71. Because all genuine Christians have been saved and therefore born again, the term, “born-again Christian” is redundant.
  72. If you are truly a Christian, you have been born again by definition. 
  73. Once saved, a man can never lose his salvation, despite temporary lapses into sin during sanctification.
  74. Occasional sin in the life of a Christian is unavoidable.
  75. Chronic sin in the life of a professed Christian is a strong indication that the person is not truly saved, never was saved and is not a really a genuine Christian.
  76. Christ’s death on the cross was a substitutionary atonement for the sins of others.
  77. Christ gave his life to save others by paying their debts for them.
  78. When Jesus’ suffering on the cross was over and he finally died, his body was truly dead.
  79. When Christ died on the cross, his body was lifeless and his soul went to heaven to be with God the Father.
  80. Christ’s dead body remained in the tomb for only three days.  It did not decay.
  81. On the third day following his death, Christ’s body was made alive again and resurrected by the power of The Holy Spirit.  Jesus’ spirit was reunited with his resurrected body.
  82. Christ is the first of many to be resurrected from the grave to eternal life.  This is God’s promise.
  83. After Christ’s resurrection, many people saw him, even 500 at one time.
  84. Christ walked the earth for 40 days after his resurrection.
  85. At the end of His time on earth, Christ visibly ascended back to heaven, where he lives and reigns with God the Father today.
  86. All three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, play a part in salvation.
  87. Christianity is unique among all the religions of the world.
  88. Christ lives today and has unlimited power.
  89. Muhammad, Confucius and Buddha are merely dead people, sinners awaiting The Final Judgment.
  90. Muhammad, Confucius and Buddha do not have the power to remit sin.
  91. Only Christ can effect salvation and solve the problem of sin.  The solution to sin and guilt comes only through faith in Jesus.