What is the Truth about salvation?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

At CompellingTruth.org, what we most want you to understand is salvation. While there are many other important truths in the Christian faith, knowing and understanding the truth about salvation is the most important, as it determines where we will spend eternity.

Salvation is God’s free gift to humanity, offered through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 16). The Old Testament reveals that God created humans in His image (Genesis 1:27), yet we chose sin (Genesis 3), bringing separation from Him and the consequences of death (Genesis 2:17; Psalm 51:5). The New Testament confirms that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), and no human effort can restore this broken relationship (Romans 3:10–18). Jesus, fully God and fully man (John 1:1,14), lived a sinless life, willingly died on the cross (John 19; Matthew 27), and rose again to pay the eternal price for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 16). By faith, when we trust in His death and resurrection, we receive forgiveness, redemption, and a restored relationship with God for eternity (Matthew 25:46; John 14:6).

Like Pilate asked, we must seek the answer to the following question: “What is truth?” (John 18:38). The answer is found in Jesus.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• The truth about God: God exists (Psalm 14:1). God created the universe and everything in it, including humanity (Genesis 1:1). God is all-powerful (Job 42:2), infinite, and eternal (Psalm 90:2). God is absolutely holy and free from sin (Isaiah 6:3).
• The truth about humanity: The Old Testament teaches that humanity was created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) with the ability to choose, but humans sinned against God (Genesis 3), bringing separation from Him and the consequences of death (Genesis 2:17; Psalm 51:5). All people are accountable to God’s standards and cannot restore themselves apart from His mercy (Psalm 14:1–3; Ecclesiastes 7:20).

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• The truth about God: God is also absolutely just, all-knowing (1 John 3:20), and will not allow evil to go unpunished (Romans 12:19). God is merciful, gracious, and loving (1 John 4:8).
• The truth about humanity: The New Testament confirms that God created us to have a personal relationship with Him. God created us with the ability to choose good and evil, and we chose evil. We have all sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Because of our sin, we deserve death, not just physical death, but eternal death, because our sin is ultimately against an eternal God (Romans 6:23). There is absolutely nothing we can do to rectify our relationship with God on our own (Romans 3:10-18).
• The truth about Jesus Christ: Knowing that humanity cannot achieve its own salvation, God took on human form in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:1,14). God literally became a human being and walked this planet for approximately 33 years, teaching the truth, performing miracles, and living a sinless life. Just as humanity rejects God, so we also rejected God incarnate. Jesus was mercilessly beaten and then crucified (Matthew 27). Jesus willingly sacrificed His life for ours and died on the cross (John 19). Since He was God, His death carried an infinite and eternal value, paying the infinite and eternal price our sins demand (2 Corinthians 5:21). Three days after He died, Jesus was resurrected, demonstrating that His death had sufficiently paid the price for sin (1 Corinthians 16).
• The truth about salvation: Because of the perfect and complete sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our sins can be forgiven. God offers us salvation, deliverance, redemption, and forgiveness. The only requirement God demands is that we receive the gift of salvation that He offers us through Jesus Christ (John 3:16). All we have to do is accept it, by faith, trusting in Jesus' sacrifice alone to cover our sins. When we receive salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, our relationship with God is restored and we are promised an eternal home in heaven (Matthew 25:46).
• What is the Truth about salvation? There are many truths, and many of them are very important. But, there is only one Truth, and that is Jesus Christ. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

During one of the sham trials Jesus was subjected to before He was crucified, Pontius Pilate asked Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). Pilate asked the question mockingly. Pilate did not really care what the truth was and would not have believed it if Jesus had revealed it to him. But Pilate's question is one that we must all wrestle with. What is the Truth about salvation? What is the truth about God? What is the truth about Jesus? What is the truth about salvation? To ignore these questions is foolish. To be misled on these questions is dangerous.

Are you ready and willing to accept these truths? If so, place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Recognize that you have sinned and are worthy of death. Thank God for providing for your salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Trust the perfect and complete sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the means of your salvation. Recognize that nothing can now separate you from God's love (Romans 8:38-39) and that He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

UNDERSTAND

• All have sinned and cannot restore themselves.
• Christ, fully God and fully man, lived sinlessly, died for our sins, and rose again.
• Trusting Jesus brings forgiveness, restores our relationship with God, and grants us eternal life.

REFLECT

• How does understanding that you cannot save yourself challenge or encourage you?
• How does trusting Jesus’ sacrifice personally affect how you live each day?
• How does knowing nothing can separate you from God’s love influence your sense of security?

ENGAGE

• How does Jesus being both fully God and fully man deepen our understanding of the value of His sacrifice?
• Why is it important to grasp that salvation is a free gift and not earned through human effort?
• How can we encourage believers to live out the reality of restored relationship with God and eternal life?