Salvation issues?

Then he [the criminal] said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise”. Luke 23:42-43

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household”. Acts 16:29-31

God, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Luke 18:15

A couple of times recently somebody has used an expression that I wasn’t very familiar with but couldn’t get out of my mind.

I was chatting with a Christian friend, and we found ourselves disagreeing (in a friendly manner, of course). “Oh well”, he said, smiling, “it’s not a salvation issue, is it?”

Not a salvation issue.

Now, what does that mean? Reflecting later, I think what he was saying was “Well, I’m sorry we disagree, but of course it’s not a matter that need separate us spiritually. Our disagreement doesn’t mean that one of us is a Christian and the other not, that one of us is saved and the other not”. Which, of course, is fine. I was happy to agree. Then the same expression cropped up in a sermon.

It set off a train of thought. How many “salvation issues” are there?” What constitutes a salvation issue? What exactly do we need to believe in order to be saved?

For example, is belief in the personhood of the Holy Spirit a salvation issue? Belief in the doctrine of the trinity? Or belief in the literal truth of the creation account – a literal six days - in Genesis 1-2? What about the Christian who feels in sympathy with the lobby pressing for “assisted suicide”? or pressing for some acceptance of same-sex relations? Salvation issues?

What about those who believe that “speaking in tongues” is for every believer? Or those who believe that speaking in tongues is most certainly not for every believer because it stopped in New Testament days? What about hell as a “lake of fire” – how literal is that? What about those who believe that women should always have their heads covered in worship? What about…?

The possible questions multiply! And it’s no good saying “We must just go with the simple meaning of scripture” – for the fact is that the meaning of scripture isn’t always simple, whether we like it or not; and, anyway, the Bible itself never spells out explicitly what might or might not be a salvation issue.

Our dependence on the teaching of scripture is, of course, vital (where else can we go?), so I have put at the top two New Testament quotes which would seem to reduce “salvation issues” to a bare minimum. In Luke 23 the thief dying on the cross next to Jesus undergoes a change of heart about his sinful life and asks him to “remember me when you come in your kingdom”. Jesus’ reply amounts to a wonderful assurance that that man was saved: “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” – though very likely his understanding amounted to next to nothing.

And in Acts 16, the  jailer looking after Paul and Barnabas asks the very direct question “What must I do to be saved?” (though what he himself meant by “saved”, who knows?). Whatever, he receives the gloriously simple reply “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (though the next bit, “you and your household”, perhaps isn’t quite so simple!).

The man who used to cut my hair was, by background and upbringing, a Muslim. But he was impressed by Christianity and happy to read the Bible. I left the area before I knew if he had (as we say) “made a commitment to Christ”, but whether he did or not I find it impossible to rule out the possibility of meeting him one day in heaven.

Paul, especially in Romans 3, spells out the doctrine of “justification by faith” – more exactly, that we are saved from our sins by God’s grace alone by simply putting our faith in what Jesus did by his crucifixion and resurrection. That is the basic, foundation doctrine in which we rest.

But we need to be careful. Just referring to it as a “doctrine” makes it sound very correct and clinical: as if it’s a threat delivered with a frowning face and a wagging finger: “If you don’t put your faith in Jesus you will not be saved”. But no! It’s an offer, indeed a promise, delivered with a smile and a welcome: “You want to be saved? That’s great! Just put your trust in Jesus”.

Putting it another way, the gospel message is not like an exam that the candidate has to pass; no, it’s an invitation that he or she is invited to accept and delight in.

So, seen from this perspective, with the dying thief and the Philippian jailer in our minds, it seems that there are no “salvation issues” at all: God accepts anyone and everyone who knows their sinfulness and need and cries out for mercy, however scant their understanding. The word Gospel does mean “good news”, after all! Putting it yet another way… as Christians we believe in justification by faith: we don’t believe in justification by believing in justification by faith. There’s a big difference.

God alone knows the heart of every person. Perhaps on Resurrection morning we’re in for a few surprises…

Father, thank you for making the question of salvation so wonderfully simple. Help me day by day to enjoy the privilege of being a sinner saved by your grace; help me too to make that good news known to others. Amen.