Expert: Elder Greg Madden - 4/18/2007

Question
QUESTION: In your recent response to Baptism you listed five numerical points relating to why and how a person is saved.  You gave scripture for the first four but none for the fifth which is actually the one that addressed "what must I do to be saved?"  Could you please provide some scripture that support your statements:

"5) We must individually admit to God that we are sinners and in an attitude of repentance, personally ask Him for forgiveness, the free gift of eternal life and to come into to our lives.

Salvation is received through sincere, godly repentance, and whole-hearted acceptance and confession of Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord. Through being born again, we become new creatures in Jesus Christ."

Thanks!

Kade
ANSWER: Kade,

Thanks for pointing this out to me. Your right, I needed to site a
Scripture as I did the other points. Here is what I should have sited...

Romans 10:9,10 says "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Also, here a few more that I might have used as well*

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Acts 16:30,31
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house.

Eph. 2:8,9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.

2 Cor. 7:10
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of:
but the sorrow of the world worketh death.


Let me know if this helps.
Elder Greg Madden



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I appreciate your answer, Mr. Madden.  Is there a verse(s) the specifically support non-Christians "personally ask[ing] Him for forgiveness, the free gift of eternal life and to come into to our [non-Christians'] lives"?

Thank you so much!

Kade

Answer
Kade,

I thought I answered this in my previous reply. You see Kade, all Scriptures were written specifically to Believers. However, this does not mean that the Text's that refer to obtaining salvation (which I listed above) do not apply to them also. If we we to say that then no one would ever be saved.

Notice the specific verse...
Acts 16:30,31
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

This was the apostle Paul speaking to an unsaved jailer who was asking him specifically about salvation, and how to obtain it.

Kade, the Bible is written for the Believers. Therefor the preponderance of the text deal with how the Christian is to live and conduct their lives. However, there are few verses that deal specifically with obtaining salvation. They are there in the Bible, there are just fewer of them.

I hope this helps clear things up.
Elder Greg