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Introduction
Salvation is what Christians view as the centerpiece of Christianity, for most of them it is the
ultimate and in some cases the sole reason why they subscribe to Christianity. The author of
it is viewed and believed to be Jesus Christ, and it is only obtainable through Him, therefore
there has been a way the Christian Church has understood salvation. Christianity then decrees
there are certain stages one has to go through in the process of salvation. In this paper I will
be aiming to discuss what salvation really is, its stages and the effects salvation should have
on the person that has received it, in the view of Christianity.

What is Salvation?

Salvation is not as simple as it looks as many theologians argue that it also has a secular
meaning, that the term itself does not only belong to Christianity, “Salvation is a complex
notion. It does not necessarily have any Christian reference. The term can be used in a
thoroughly secular manner.” (McGrath 2011:316) Salvation can be independently understood
from its Christian understanding and it was and still is used in many cases as a form of
liberation. Salvation in a secular manner is understood to be the act of saving or the means of
being saved, many South Africans view Nelson Mandela as the person that “saved” black
South Africans from the apartheid regime and many other people are viewed as saviors for
their contributions to the world and in people’s lives.

The Christian definition of salvation and especially of the New Testament would be being
delivered from the consequences of sin, meaning that the Christian god, Jesus Christ took the
punishment that was due to them. So they will not die as a result of sin because he has died
but they will live because He is risen and living. “The Greek nouns for salvation are soteria
and soterion; the adjective is soterios, from which we derive the term soteriology. The
meaning of soteria and soterion is “deliverance,” “preservation,” or “salvation.”(Geisler
2004:223) Other religions also claim to offer salvation even though they obtain it by means
different to that of Christianity but salvation can be understood in a secular manner and also
in a Christian context. To say that salvation is only possible the way the Christians decree
would be a huge statement, rendering all the other religions futile and pointless. However,
Christians do sustain and believe that salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ. In the
next paragraph I will be aiming to discuss this decree at length.
Is Salvation Found Only Through Christ?

“Salvation is understood to be grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ…the specific shape of salvation within the Christian tradition is itself formed by
Christ.” (McGrath 2011:316) In the Christian view salvation is being exempt from the
consequences of sin, and this is found through Christ as McGrath decreed. In order to gain
this salvation you would need to strive to live the life that Christ lived, die to sin and rise with
him. We can only conclude from this statement that religions that do not embrace Christ do
not receive salvation, but how true is that statement? This is a subject that we cannot argue
and it is what binds all the Christian Churches; this is one doctrine that they have in common,
it is the common denominator, and salvation is linked with Christ. This then in effect
logically brings about the notion that one has to encounter or believe in Christ since he is
linked with salvation and is the author of it.

Different Modes of Salvation

“Some views regard the transmission of salvation as a virtually physical process.” (Erickson
1992:291) This view regards that salvation is worked for, essentially it is earned. This view
renders salvation as earned through works; it is achieved so that will lead to the inevitable
insinuation that salvation is deserved rather than being a free gift.

“Others think that salvation is conveyed by moral action.” (Erickson 1992:291) This is the
view that decrees that salvation is determined by how you conduct yourself; essentially it is
acquired by righteous actions. By this statement it can be concluded that in the process of
salvation God becomes a passive figure and we then become active as we struggle for our
moral standards to meet those of God. I would argue this by simply acknowledging that there
are people who are born with that type of a personality, a morally correct person. There are
people who by nature are quite moral and for salvation to depend on that would be an unfair
measuring stick by God. And I believe in the impartiality of God and in my own opinion do
not view this mode of salvation as the one in which the Lord instituted

“Salvation is mediated by faith. Faith appropriates the work accomplished by Christ; the
recipient is, in a sense passive in the process.” (Erickson 1992:291) This is the central belief
of how salvation is received in the Christian religion; it is received through faith in Jesus
Christ. This has been the gospel that was preached by the reformers, and many died for it.
Within the Bible itself there has been a contradiction of whether faith alone or faith with
works would make us achieve salvation and many faiths have exploited that so I will be
briefly discussing it below.

Faith and Works

No doubt this has been a huge debate in the Christian religion, mainly stemming from the
writings of Paul and of James. Paul clearly writes in the epistle to the Romans 3:28 “For we
hold that a man is justified by faith alone apart from works of law.” Just as we were
absorbing that James tells us a contradicting statement that “You see a man is justified by
works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24) Although these statements seem to contradict
each other, I believe that the two authors were altogether addressing a different situation and
context.

“Faith in the Pauline sense frees people from a paralyzing concern for their own destiny and
from obsession with religious techniques for ensuring the right outcome.” (Segundo
1982:126) We must first be clear with the kind of faith and works Paul is talking about in his
epistles, as Segundo writes Paul was addressing a context that was very concerned about their
destinies after death. They sought to consolidate salvation by keeping true to their religious
duties and when Paul uses the word works or works of the law he is talking about religious
duties. People used these to access salvation and Paul was trying to communicate to them that
faith alone is enough to receive salvation and in my opinion he drew a parallel line showing
that salvation is not found in religion but through faith in Christ. And so reasonably since we
cannot fully embrace the law it is then useless to think that we can use it to access salvation,
we can come through faith, saving faith. “Faith is not a human ‘good work’ but the obverse
of grace.” (Cuncliffe-Jones 1978:319)
“Here the writer is using ‘faith’ in the sense which it has in ordinary usage: i.e., adherence to
a religious creed.” (Segundo 1982:125) James does not use faith and works the same way that
Paul uses it. The context, audience and meaning altogether are completely different; here
James talks of faith as believing or knowing of the existence of something. He says this faith
is useless as demons also have this faith about God yet they are not saved, “You have enough
faith to believe in the one God, Excellent! The devils have faith like that, and it makes them
tremble.” (James 2:19) It is by this that James discounts that faith alone can save a person as
he simply aligns faith with agreeing that God exists. So faith without works is futile in that
sense because they then have the same faith like the demons. Even the works they refer to are
not the same, while Paul cites religious duties James talks about works of charity born from
having faith in Christ which then brings about salvation. In my opinion I feel there is no
contradiction, both of them see faith as a verb as to a noun, from our faith there must be fruits
that are going to bear testimony to our salvation, works of charity and works of grace and not
works of the law.

Salvation Related to Time

“There are various opinions as to how salvation is related to time. It is variously thought of as
a single occurrence at the beginning of the Christian life, a process continuing throughout the
Christian life, or a future event.” (Erickson 1992:290) in the Christian belief or religion the
churches do differ in the way they view salvation, particularly on how it is administered or
received. There are the churches that believe in instant salvation, where they believe that
salvation was a past event and this leads to the “once saved always saved” belief. Instant
salvation also links in very well with the doctrine of predestination as this also expresses an
event where God elects and that renders you saved eternally. The term I would render to this
stage of salvation is justification; this then would lead to the belief that justification is the
only thing needed to be saved. These are the type of people who say, “I am saved” as it is a
past event.

The other belief sees salvation as a future event, the people who hold the belief that “we will
be saved” rather than salvation meaning an occurrence that took place in the past. This is
what many Christians view as glorification; this is of course, in my view is when we reach
the last stage of our salvation. As the Apostle Paul writes in his epistle that “I consider that
our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Romans 8:18 (NIV) Glorification would then be what I would call the last segment of our
salvation where we will wait in anticipation for the glory of God to be revealed in us.
The other belief of how salvation is viewed would be the Process Salvation; this is the belief
that decrees that salvation is a process rather than a singular event. This is believed to be the
central idea of what salvation is; a process rather than a past or a future event. This idea or
thought basically sums up both the afore-mentioned thoughts of salvation, which are
justification and glorification, the process in the middle being sanctification.

The Three Stages of Salvation

According to many theologians and many Christian beliefs, salvation is considered to have
three stages within itself, many Christian doctrines decreeing that there has to be a past,
present and future in the process of salvation. “Salvation begins with the judicial act of
justification, proceeds through the lifelong process of sanctification, and is completed when
we meet Christ in an act of glorification.” (Grudem 1994:235) As I have said above the
stages are justification which is the past event, sanctification which is the present event and
glorification which is the future event and I will be discussing each at length below:

Justification

Justification is basically seen as being saved from the penalty of sin, this is seen as the first
stage of salvation where God removes the guilt of sin and pronounced innocent before God.
Since man cannot save himself he remains passive during this process and God becomes
active. “Justification is an instantaneous, past act of God by which one is saved from the guilt
of sin.” (Grudem 1994:235) In Church History we learn that the biblical truth was hidden
from the people of God, and this was another way for the Church to gain power over the
people and control them. Martin Luther came across what he termed justification by faith
alone a truth that led to the reformation in Germany. Salvation then was preached as
something that is worked for or earned by righteous works, but the truth came out that it not
earned nor deserved but afforded to anyone who believes. If only God can save and if only
God can justify us then the act of justification is the act of God. Although most can agree that
justification is a past event, McGrath reveals that might not be entirely correct as it can also
be a future event “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for
which we hope” Galatians 5:5 (NIV) so he argues that justification can be at the beginning
and at the end of a Christian life. (McGrath 2011:319)

Biblical use of Justification

Firstly we will look at the Old Testament and try to unpack the deeper meaning of how
justification is used and in which context. “More often than not, the Hebrew term hitsdig,
usually justify is used in a forensic or legal sense…” (Grudem 1994:235) If Grudem would
declare that justification is to be used in a legal sense then it should be acknowledged that
God does not make a person righteous but He would judicially pronounce that a person is in
line with the law. This in effect means that when God justifies He does not make a guilty
person innocent but declares that person innocent, since God himself is the judge. Since in
the Old Testament justification is seen in a legal sense, it should then be defined as being
declared just by a court order.

We should also look at the New Testament and just get a feel of how it interprets
justification, “…the verb translated ‘to justify’ is dikaioo. The word is used by Paul in a legal
sense in a forensic or legal sense.” (Grudem 1994:236) This meaning in the New Testament
correlates with the Old Testament meaning of justification. If the two Covenants are in
agreement this means that the Bible has clear meaning and understanding of what
justification is, an act of God to declare just, not to make just. When justifying God accepts
man as righteous, a sinner holy because he now belongs to Him, “For he hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2Cor.
5:21

Sanctification

Sanctification would be the follow up process after justification, and the word sanctify simply
means to make holy or to set apart. So then this would be seen as the process where God
makes us holy before His sight or set us apart for Himself. “Sanctification is the continuing
work of God in the life of the believer, making him or her actually holy.” (Erikson 1992:325)
Since in the process of justification God was the active being and humans were passive, in
the process of sanctification both beings are active in this process. It is where we as people of
God try to lead lives worthy of belonging to God, develop our spirituality and set ourselves
apart for the Lord, “…he believed that justified believers should exhibit growth in grace or to
put it in yet another way, there should be an increase in sanctification after justification.”
(Hulley 1987:81) Unlike justification where God lawfully declares us righteous, by which He
gets us out of sin, in the process of sanctification is where He makes us righteous, by which
He along with us get the sin out of the human life.

Grudem sees sanctification as the salvation from the power of sin, as this is the process
whereby we break ties with the power of sin as we dedicate our lives to God. Grudem
acknowledges that there are three areas one needs to be victorious in, in order to defeat the
power of sin; the world, the flesh and also the devil. (Grudem 1994:238) Justification would
indeed reveal to us our sinful nature and how unable we are to save ourselves; this would
then lead to repentance which is an imperative part in the process of sanctification. This then
would lead us to die to sin and actually believe and allow our lives to be line with the
standards of God. We play a huge role in this process as it takes a lot of faith to achieve these
feats and be sanctified “Purification does not follow automatically from justification. It
involves cooperation on our part; we must yield to God’s sanctifying grace.” (Grudem
1994:238)

Biblical Use of Sanctification

The word sanctification might have a different original meaning to it in the Old Testament
then the one that we are used to. “The Old Testament word for to ‘sanctify’ is qadash…the
corresponding noun is qodesh, while the adjective is qadosh…qadash is related to chadash,
meaning to shine.” (Berkhof 1939:527) This meaning in the Old Testament has some sort of a
deeper meaning than that we are used to, many school of thoughts would see sanctification as
to ‘clean’ but this goes further than cleaning or cleansing to mean ‘to shine.’ In the Old
Testament it is normally used as God’s characteristic, and also in many cases it is used on
objects that are set apart for God which ‘setting apart’ also has reference to the original
meaning of sanctification. I do find a strange contradiction, the term for sanctification in the
Old Testament means ‘to shine’ but holiness in the Old Testament is largely directed as an
attribute of God and the consecration of things dedicated to Him rather than God ‘shining’
His people. God does talk of sanctifying His people Exodus 31:13rf but it not where the
whole covenant is concentrated upon, in the Old Testament holiness is God-centred.

We should also have look in the New Testament to get how it interprets sanctification, “The
verb hagiazo has various meanings. The verb hagiazo is a derivative of hagios... which
expresses primarily the idea of separation.” (Berkhof 1939:527) In the New Testament the
‘setting apart’ is not primarily used on objects although there reference in the New
Testament, but the idea of sanctification is rather concentrated around humans rather than
God. Here holiness is rarely given unto God as an attribute but whereby God attempts to
sanctify us “The New Testament holiness stands forth as the special characteristic of the
Spirit of God, by whom believers are sanctified. (Berkhof 1939:532)

Glorification

This is the third and final stage of salvation, which is called glorification as we had discussed
first the stage of justification and sanctification and we are now at the last stage. Grudem
describes this stage as being saved from the presence of sin, differing from the other two as
justification was being saved from the penalty of sin and sanctification being saved from the
power of sin. “…glorification is the future act that will save us from the very power of sin.”
(Grudem 1994:241)

This stage of salvation is made is preached thoroughly in the book of Revelations, where it
speaks in detail about the future and about everyone’s destiny. “And I saw a new heaven and
a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…” Revelation 21:1 this
is when God will reveal glory to those who experienced His salvation while still on earth.
Although this poses a problem for me, I would argue that justification is enough for a person
to receive salvation, even though not going through the process of sanctification. Jesus
justified a man before he gave his last breathe and promised Him paradise, essentially he
promised him salvation, he promised him glorification. Sanctification is a process mandatory
for us who still have to live after justification, but if we are not to live, justification then
becomes sufficient.

Glorification can also be seen as the future final work of God in our lives where he
transforms our decaying physical bodies into eternal physical bodies where we will forever.
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in corruption: It is
sown in dishonour; it will be raised in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness;
it is raised I power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
body, and there is a spiritual body.” 1Corinthians 15:42-44 (NKJV) Glorification is the act of
glorifying or state of being glorified, which means to give glory, honour or to exalt. I rather
believe that other than to praise, God will cause us to seem glorious where we will live in
eternal communion with Him

Conclusion

Salvation has a different meaning for different people, for Christianity as well as other
religions. Christianity has however embraced it and made it belong to them although other
religions do claim salvation, “…for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 Christianity has limited salvation only to the Christian
religion, leaving me with the question whether a person needs Christ or the Christian religion
in order to gain salvation. In my opinion people have made God a Christian, just like the
Catholic Church made the Church God Himself.
So much so that the religion has created a formula for how we actually get saved, which I
also believe that restricts God in some sense, as we have brought it to a level that we can
understand. That being said I would comment on the insight I received while busy with the
assignment, it was a good experience to see the different schools of thought when it comes to
salvation and three stages it has, although I would have to comment that within these stages
there are a lot of things that the person would go through other than the simple justification,
sanctification and then glorification.

== References ==

Berkhof, L. (1939). Systematic Theology. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust.
Cuncliffe-Jones, H. (1978). History of Christian Doctrine. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark LTD.
Erickson, M. (1992). Introducing Christian Doctrine: 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic.
Grudem, W. A. (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Liecester:
Intervarsity Press.
Hulley, L. D. (1987). Wesley: A plain Man for Plain People. Woodstock: The Methodist
Publishing House.
McGrath, A. E. (2011). Christian Theology: An Introduction Fifth Edition . London: Wiley-
Blackwell.
Segundo, J. L. (1982). Faith and Ideologies Vol.1. Madrid: Ediciones Cristiandad.