Sister #2 and I have been discussing this very thing. While we scratched our heads and wrinkled our eyebrows on opposite ends of the phone, we semi-concluded that salvation is a semi-simple concept with complex reasoning: Salvation comes through belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are unworthy sinners. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. While salvation cannot be earned, it is received by a personal faith in Jesus Christ and true repentance.
This belief seems simple, but there are so many underlying details within it all. With the belief of the gospel (not just the profession...the true belief) comes the commitment to making Christ the ultimate manager of our life. This church explains it well: Salvation "begins the moment someone commits their life to Christ, continues as God grows in us to be like him, and will be completed at Christ's return to earth." This concept seems to become more complex the more you think about it...not to mention any question starting with "Why?!"
In his Hard to Believe book, John MacArthur describes the cross as "hard truth." Many churches have conformed this message and their entire belief systems to a customer-satisfaction mentality. Many have developed a consumer mind-set. "The church service is too long, you say? We'll shorten it... Too formal? Wear your sweatsuit. Too boring? Wait'll you hear our band! And if the message is too confrontational, or too judgmental, or too exclusive, scary, unbelievable, hard to understand, or too much anything else for your taste, churches everywhere are eager to adjust that message to make you more comfortable." This is NOT GOSPEL-focused! What is it all about anyway? Not US! Correct answer: Christ! (Have I gone off on a rabbit trail?)
Society has distorted the message of salvation. In an interview regarding his book Willing to Believe, R.C. Sproul stated, "One of my great concerns is that we've got to understand the difference between a profession of faith and faith. Everyone who has faith is called to profess faith, but not everybody who professes faith has faith. We are not saved by a profession of faith. A lot of people, it seems to me, in the evangelical world, believe that if they have walked the walk, raised the hand, signed the card - that is, made some kind of methodological profession of faith - that they're saved. And that's scary! [And why is it scary?] Because salvation comes through trust in the gospel. Now, I don't think God requires that we ourselves understand how we come to faith in order to be saved... In other words, I believe that I came to faith through the pure, unvarnished, sovereign work of God, by an immediate, supernatural work of regeneration in my heart, that my heart was a heart of stone and utterly incapable of making any positive response to Christ until God the Holy Spirit changed my soul by regeneration.... Just because my doctrine is right - and I believe it is - doesn't save me. Likewise, another person, who I believe comes to faith the same way I came to faith, through the sovereign, immediate work of the Holy Spirit - they may not understand all the nuances of that, and they may be deceived about how they came to faith, but that's not the issue that's going to keep them out of heaven. The question is, "Do they have saving faith?" Not how they understood how they got there."
Seem complex? Yep. Perhaps because God is sovereign--a term we'll never fully grasp. His "greatness is unsearchable" (Psalm 145:3b); His "understanding is inscrutable" (Isaiah 40:28b). But even so, we who have that salvation are charged to allow Christ to be preeminent in our lives.
"And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, 'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me...'" Matthew 18:2-5
Simple or complex? Or both?
