Apologetics: What Saves?

If you’ve read my testimony, you’ll know that growing up, I was very confused when it came to spirituality. Jesus was kind-of just a name to me, where to be saved, all I had to do was say, “Jesus, I welcome you into my heart,” or something along those lines and I was automatically saved and could get attention for it (spoiler: that never happened). Later in life, when I started going to church in 2021, was it that Jesus started becoming real to me, especially the first time I realized that I was a broken sinner who needed salvation. It was a late-September day at Sunday School and the sermon had been about how Jesus forgives, teaching from some passage in Matthew (I forget which one it was). Without getting into details, I felt super convicted, wanted Christ’s forgiveness, and when the closing worship service started, I just started crying and my friends came over and asked what was wrong. I vaguely explained the situation and calmed down some. After small groups, I tracked down my youth pastor (who was also the main pastor of that campus since we had yet to find a replacement youth pastor for the one that left) and I asked him how to become a Christian. I knew pretty much nothing about Christianity except for the fact that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins and He loves us, and that was it. So, when the pastor told me to just go tell my parents, then get back to him, I thought that was an adequate answer and tearfully thanked him.

Today, now that I am a Christian and have been saved (I’m actually posting this just a few hours before I get baptized), I look back upon that experience talking to my former youth pastor and am filled with anger. I no longer hold a grudge against him or that church (which I did for a long time after leaving), but the question of “How do I become a Christian? / How do I be saved?” is the easiest (and most important) question for any pastor to answer. Or, at least, it should be. Apparently for this progressive pastor, it was simply too hard for him. The answer to the question that could be the difference between eternal salvation or eternal hellfire for a crying teenager was, “Well…I think you should go tell your parents and get back to me.”

What the heck type of answer is that?!

So, since so many pastors (such as the one I encountered) and “Christians” in general can’t or refuse to answer this question in any meaningful way and as a Christian it’s my job to know how to explain salvation, here’s how you get saved.

The main five points you need to know about salvation is Martin Luther’s 5 Solas. The reason why I’m starting with these is because a lot of people seem to think that they don’t go together, that they’re separate things. However, they’re not. They’re actually logical building blocks to understanding salvation.

The first sola is Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone. Scripture is the inerrant Word of God and is the source from which He communicates the other four Solas. It is His special revelation to man, and it is closed revelation. Nothing can be added to or taken away from it. Those that do try to add/subtract from it are selling a false gospel (i.e. Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon). If we do not hold it as being inerrant, then we can no longer trust in its message of salvation and trusting it becomes no different than talking to an imaginary friend. The Christian faith is not one that requires blind faith and positive feelings to believe as we are called to research it to see if it’s true and go from there.

So, if we believe that Scripture alone is the inerrant Word of God, then we can move on to Sola Gratia and Sola Fide, Grace Alone and Faith Alone. Throughout the Bible (even in the Old Testament as much as we think that God is mean in that part of the Bible), God shows His grace – His free and unmerited favor – through providing ways for the Israelites to atone for their sins and by providing plenty of time for them to repent. They continue sinning, but He promises them a Messiah, who comes in 4 or 6 B.C. as a baby, grows up, and is arrested and crucified though He was innocent. The kicker? He died not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles, so they could also be grafted into God’s kingdom from which they had previously been excluded.

Thus, what Sola Fide (Faith Alone) means is that we are saved through faith in God’s grace through providing Christ, not our works (works come as a byproduct of faith). The Law that was given to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai and that is written on our hearts (don’t murder, steal, lie, cheat, etc.) shows our iniquity and convicts us of our sin, proving how no matter what we do, we cannot escape the fact that we are sinners before God. Thus, Jesus came so that we may have faith in Him and be made right before God. (This, however, is not a get out of jail free card for sin. If we truly have saving faith, we’ll be less eager to do things that are sinful, which I talked about here.)

From there, we get Solus Christus, Christ Alone. Not Christ + Hinduism; not Christ + works; not Christ + Buddhism; not the Universalist/Unitarian view that all will go to heaven, no matter their religious beliefs, but Christ Alone. Christ is God’s grace incarnate. Why? Because He is 100% God and 100% man. He was the prophesied Messiah who was born in Bethlehem to the virgin Mary, died on the cross and took upon himself the cup of God’s wrath meant for us as punishment for our sins that we inherited from Adam in the Garden, and rose again on the third day and will return at the end of time to bring us to Heaven. Only He, as God, has the power to forgive our sins and serve as that perfect sacrifice to cleanse us of our guilt.

Finally, we have Soli Deo Gloria, For God’s Grace Alone. Everything boils down to giving God the glory, especially salvation. 

So, what saves is what the Bible says, that faith in God’s grace through Christ for the glory of God alone saves. If you acknowledge that you’re a sinner, repent, and profess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9) then you are saved. This does not mean that things will automatically be happy and amazing like we see in those cheesy Christian movies that Christian movie companies keep pushing. We will still struggle with the desires of our flesh (which are our sinful human natures), but through Jesus and the Holy Spirit that has entered into you, you will be sanctified over time.

Until next time,

M.J.