It’s telling that the original 1925 Baptist Faith and Message addressed the important topic of salvation with not just one or two articles, but with six. These were titled: The Way of Salvation, Justification, The Freeness of Salvation, Regeneration, Repentance and Faith, and Sanctification. Two additional articles were titled God’s Purpose of Grace (or election), and Perseverance, which also relate to salvation. This extensive treatment of the biblical doctrine of salvation was and is certainly appropriate, given the Article I declaration that the Bible itself has “salvation for its end.”
The 1963 update tightened the language describing salvation significantly, while continuing to focus on the key biblical components of sin, conviction, repentance, faith, justification, regeneration, redemption, sanctification, and glorification. Each of these words carries significant weight in explaining the necessary journey from spiritual death to spiritual life.
The 2000 update simplified the article’s outline of the salvation journey into regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. It also added the simple, yet bold biblical statement that speaks directly to the pervasive relativism of modern culture: “There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.”
Many people, even within churches today, can revert to the false assumption that they can earn God’s favor through good behavior. Article 4 underscores the necessity of divine grace and the impossibility of saving oneself. This biblical message is crucial in a society that so often depends on achievement or performance.
Through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit working “in” us, we continue to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling throughout our lives. Our eternity is secure in Christ, but it is “completed” only when Jesus returns.
Grace upon grace
A more explicit title for Article 5 might have simply been “Election,” though it’s easy to imagine why writers chose a less theologically debatable title. Article 5 makes clear the Baptist belief that election is indeed God’s gracious purpose in salvation, while at the same time being “consistent with the free agency of man,” and that election “comprehends all the means in connection with the end.”
The simple statement that “all true believers endure to the end” does so much to address the tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Many have known professing Christians who appear to walk away from faith, or live contrary to it. While only God knows each heart, the Bible clearly teaches that a true believer’s eternal security and spiritual perseverance go hand in hand. God, unlimited by time or space, knows the beginning and the end of each human life, and of history itself. Yet humans created in God’s image, living within time and space, certainly bear responsibility for acceptance or non-acceptance of God’s gracious offer of salvation.
Both articles remind us our security does not rest on our own strength. God begins the work of salvation, and he is faithful to complete it. This reassures believers during seasons of struggle, temptation, or even failure. And because God is the one who saves, no person is beyond hope.
