Christian Living

THE PLAN OF SALVATION?

by Jeffrey Hagan
01/25/22
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Is there really a “plan of salvation?” Growing up in the church I heard that phrase (or one similar to it) often. What, if anything, is required to be saved? Is there some sort of simplistic formula we can follow in order to receive salvation? Are the “1, 2, 3, 4 steps” found in the majority of Christian tracts accurate? The defense, or argument, for the pro position usually goes something like the following:

While it seems today that the Church cannot agree on the plan for salvation, this was not the case in the early days of the Christian Church. In fact, it is in the first message preached after Jesus’s ascension into Heaven that the “plan of salvation” is laid out. It’s all right there in Acts 2:37-38.

It was the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit had just fallen on those gathered in the upper room. The event caused such a commotion in the area that a large crowd had gathered to take in what was happening. Some even accused the Apostoles and the others in the upper room of being drunk.

Well, Peter stood up and explained they were not drunk and then boldly preached a cutting sermon eventually getting to the “plan for salvation.”

Acts 2:36-38, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (ESV) .

It’s as if Peter did all of the heavy lifting for us on the day of Pentecost. Peter used what he had learned from being with Jesus, and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, summarized all the teaching on salvation in “one simple and concise verse.”

This verse was received because of the faith shown by those who heard Peter’s message. Faith is the path to salvation. And as we see here there’s a plan for us showing repentance, confession, baptism and then the Holy Spirit coming to us that we must follow. We will notice this again in two other passages.

Acts 8:36-38, “And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him” (ESV).

The pattern is repeated: Philip had witnessed to the eunuch and the eunuch responded with faith(1) and was eager to repent (2) when at the water they urged Philip to stop and he be baptized(3). And we also see the Holy Spirit(4) on the scene in a mighty way in the following verse. Recognize the pattern? 1, 2, 3, 4.