Salvation Doctrines

"At the moment of salvation ..."

The Christian life begins the moment a person believes the Gospel, putting his complete confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. At that moment, God provides the new believer with a great number of unique and permanent blessings. "...and hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." (Eph. 1:3) These blessings are a part of the inheritance of the believer, those useful doctrines and promises upon which the Christian may draw during the remainder of his lifetime on earth.

The following is a listing of Salvation Doctrines, a catalogue of the things God does for the believer at the moment of salvation. These basic ideas are the underlying principles for the mechanics of Christian living, the techniques such as Faith-Rest and Occupation with Christ. These doctrines are also foundation principles for all other Bible doctrine.

This listing can provide you with hours of quality study and meditation. You may well find other topics that could be added to the list. It is valuable and important that a Christian understand thoroughly his relationship with the Lord; and a good knowledge of these doctrines can be of great help in Christian living.

Use the items on this list with people who don't believe in eternal security. You see, in order for God to take salvation away from anyone, He would have to reverse every one of these processes. Item #18, for example, shows that a Christian is a gift from God the Father to His Son. Loss of salvation would mean that God would take back His gift to His own Son. Or, in #35, we see that the believer receives a Human Spirit as part of the salvation package. Losing salvation would mean that the Human Spirit would have to be killed, or removed in some way. In a similar way you can argue in favor of eternal security from every one of these items.

You can also use these topics in your personal witness to new Christians. Remember, these are "Day One" doctrines. So the new believer (or the "old baby" believer) cannot begin to mature until he begins to grasp the importance of these topics. Advanced believers are responsible to provide basic teaching to untaught believers.

1. A believer is in the Eternal Plan of God, sharing the destiny of the Lord Jesus Christ. As such the believer is:

Foreknown: Acts 2:23; Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 1:2

Elect: Rom. 8:33; Col. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:4; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:2

Predesigned: Rom. 8:29,30; Eph. 1:5,11

Chosen in Christ: Matt. 22:14; 1 Pet. 2:4

Called: 1 Thess. 5:24

2. The believer is Reconciled:

By God, 2 Cor. 5:18; Col. 1:20

To God, Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:20; Eph. 2:14f.

3. The believer is Redeemed (purchased from the slave market of sin): Rom. 3:24; Col. 1:14; 1 Pet. 1:18; Eph. 1:7.

4. The believer is Removed from Condemnation: John 3:18; 5:24; Rom. 8:1.

5. The believer is under Grace and not under Judgment (doctrine of Propitiation): Rom. 3:24-28; 1 John 2:2.

6. The believer's sins are judged by the spiritual death of Christ on the Cross: Rom. 4:25; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 2:24.

7. The believer is made dead to the old life and alive unto God. He is:

Crucified with Christ: Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20

Dead with Christ: Rom. 6:8; Col. 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:24

Buried with Christ: Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12

Risen with Christ: Rom. 6:4; Col. 3:1

8. The believer is free from the law: Rom. 6:14; 7:4,6; 2 Cor. 3:11; Gal. 3:25.

9. The believer is adopted (placed as an adult heir in the family of God): Rom. 8:15; 8:23; Eph. 1:5.

10. The believer is justified (declared righteous): Rom. 3:24; 5:1,9; 8:30; 1 Cor. 6:11; Titus 3:7

11. The believer is regenerated (born spiritually into the family of God): John 13:10; 1 Cor. 6:11; Titus 3:5. In regeneration the believers are:

Born Again: John 3:7; 1 Pet. 1:23

Children of God: Gal. 3:26

Sons of God: John 1:12; 2 Cor. 6:18; 1 John 3:2

New Creations: 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:10

12. The believer is made acceptable to God: Eph. 1:6; 1 Pet. 2:5. To make a believer acceptable to Himself, God sees to it that the believer is:

Made righteous: Rom. 3:22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9

Sanctified positionally: 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:11

Perfected forever: Heb. 10:14

Made qualified: Col. 1:12

13. The believer is forgiven all trespasses: Eph. 1:7; 4:32; Col. 1:14; 2:13; 3:13

14. The believer is made nigh (heavenly citizenship based on Reconciliation): Luke 10:20; Eph. 2:13,19; Phil. 3:20

15. The believer is delivered from the kingdom of Satan: Col. 1:13; 2:15

16. The believer is transferred into God's Kingdom: Col. 1:13

17. The believer is placed on a secure foundation: 1 Cor. 3:11; 10:4; Eph. 2:20

18. The believer is a gift from God the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ: John 10:20; 17:2,6,9,11,12,24

19. The believer is delivered from the power of the Sin Nature; Rom. 2:29; Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:11

20. The believer is appointed as a priest unto God: 1 Pet. 2:5,9; Rev. 1:6

21. The believer is under the care of God as a chosen generation and a protected people: Tit. 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:9

22. The believer is given access to God: Rom. 5:2; Eph. 2:18; Heb. 4:14,16; 10:19,20

23. The believer is within the much more care of God; as such we are:

Objects of His love: Eph. 2:4; 5:2

Objects of His Grace: for salvation, Eph. 2:8,9; for keeping, Rom. 5:2; 1 Pet. 1:5; for service, John 17:18; Eph. 4:7; for instruction, Titus 2:12

Objects of His power: Eph. 1:19; Phil. 2:13

Objects of His faithfulness: Phil. 1:6; Heb. 13:5

Objects of His peace: John 14:27

Objects of His consolation: 2 Th. 2:16

Objects of His intercession: Rom. 8:34; 7:25; 9:24

24. The believer is part of Christ's inheritance: Eph. 1:18

25. The believer is a beneficiary of the inheritance from God (an heir of God and a joint-heir with the Lord Jesus Christ): Rom. 8:17; Eph. 1:14; Col. 3:24; Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:4

26. The believer has a new position in Christ: Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:4; 1 Cor. 1:9; 3:9; 2 Cor. 3:3,6; 5:20; 6:1,4

27. The believer is the recipient of eternal life: John 3:15; 10:28; 20:31; 1 John 5:11,12

28. The believer is a member of the family of God: Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19

29. The believer is Light in the Lord: Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:4

30. The believer is united with the Father: 1 Thess. 1:1, cf. Eph. 4:6

He is united with Christ: John 14:20, cf. Col. 1:27

A member of His Body: 1 Cor. 12:13

A Branch in the Vine: John 15:5

A Stone in the Building: Eph. 2:21,22

A Sheep in the Flock: Eph. 2:21,22

A part of His Bride: Eph. 5:25-27

A Priest in His Kingdom: 1 Pet. 2:9

A Saint of the new species: 2 Cor. 5:17

He is united with the Holy Spirit Rom. 8:9; 8:29

31. The believer is the recipient of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Born of the Spirit: John 3:6

Baptized by the Spirit: 1 Cor. 12:13

Indwelt by the Spirit: John 7:39; Rom. 5:5; 8:9; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Gal. 4:6; 1 John 3:24

Sealed by the Spirit: 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 4:30

Recipient of Spiritual Gifts: 1 Cor. 12:11; 12:27-31; 13:1,2

32. The believer is glorified in Christ: Rom. 3:20

33. The believer is made complete in Christ: Col. 2:10

34. The believer is the possessor of every spiritual blessing: Eph. 1:3

35. The believer is the recipient of a human spirit: Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 2:12; 2 Cor. 7:13; 1 Thess. 5:23; Eph. 2:5

36. The believer has access to all Bible truth through the Grace system for Bible understanding and Christian growth: Col. 2 and Eph. 4.