In my last entry one of the comments that was made at the end was: “What does someone do to be saved then? How does a pastor explain that without some sort of steps?”
I started to respond to the comment, but then it got so lengthy I decided that it just needed to be a separate blog entry. Here’s my response to that question.
How does a pastor explain how to be a Christian without some sort of steps? Well, does he really have to? It is our North American culture that created the "steps to salvation" concept. Nowhere in the new testament is there a step-by-step guide to salvation. The closest thing I can find to steps was when Peter said to the crowd in Acts 2: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” To repent simply meant to turn away from their sins. Baptism was simply a physical symbolic representation of the washing away of the past and acceptance of the new. Where was the prayer for salvation? Where was the steps such as the “Roman’s Road to Salvation?” Peter never mentions them.
Please show me the moment when the disciples were considered to be saved? Was it when they were asked to be one of Jesus’ disciples? Was it Pentecost, when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit? There is no point of conversion, any “moment of crisis” as many like to describe it. No, their salvation came when Christ became their Lord, at whatever point that was. It might well have been one of those ah-ha moments for some of them, like Andrew, or later, Paul. Or it might have been one of those gradual conversion experiences, like Thomas. He doubted everything, but in the end, somewhere along the way, as his doubts were finally satisfied, he grew into his salvation. It was a gradual thing for him.
We in North America, somewhere within the last 200 years, defined salvation as a matter of a bunch of steps that must be taken to become a Christian. We define discipleship as a the process of growing our faith after we become a Christian. But is that really biblical? A Hebrew disciple of a rabbi was simply a man who followed and learned the teachings of a particular rabbi in order to become more like that particular rabbi. In the case of Jesus’ disciples, they were no different. They followed and learned the teachings of their rabbi [Jesus] in order to become more like him. There was no conversion experience to being one of Jesus disciples. It was simply a matter of faith.
I love the story recorded in Luke 7 of the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and her hair. I won’t go deep into the context of why that’s so important, but suffice it to say that she never uttered a word through the entire discourse. It was simply her actions and her faith that brought salvation into her life. In fact, Jesus told her in the end, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Salvation was never meant to be a matter of steps that were to be completed in order for a person to be saved. It has always been a matter of faith, since even before Jesus died on the cross. Salvation for Abraham came as a matter of faith. It’s the same today. We’ve got to stop thinking about a person being in or out of Christianity based on whether they’ve actually prayed the sinners prayer or not.
