Salvation: Immediate or Gradual?
Pastor Stacey Shiflett
Photo: Pastor Stacey Shiflett, from his SureWord Publications About page (surewordpublications.com/about). Used with publisher site source attribution.
Believe it or not there’s quite a bit of confusion surrounding the act of salvation. Some preachers are actually proclaiming that salvation is a gradual working of the Spirit of God in a person’s life. Men have actually said that they are saved, though they do not know the exact day or time that it happened. It is impossible for me to comprehend how Someone as big as God could move in and you do not know it!! There is something bad wrong with that my friend. I am not saying you must remember the date, but you will without a doubt remember the day!
It seems to me that people can make a mountain out of a molehill on any subject. No matter how clear the Bible is, somebody always seems to distort and exchange certain elementary, basic Bible doctrines. How anyone could be confused about this particular study is almost beyond my comprehension. Not only is the Bible very clear on this subject, but it would appear to me that common sense would have some say so in this topic. It is absolutely impossible to be neither dead nor alive! It is impossible to be neither a goat nor a sheep!! The reason people are confused about this is simply because they either do not understand their Bible or they may have never personally experienced the wonderful act of salvation in their life. I would like to refer to the Bible, our Final Authority, and see what God has to say about the work of salvation that He so miraculously performs in our life.
Some Comparisons
In John Chapter three, Jesus refers to salvation in a way that each of us can understand. He compares salvation to the natural birth. Now, I could go into a lot of comparisons between salvation and the natural birth, but I won’t for the sake of time. That is a completely different study altogether. However, I would like to draw our attention to one similarity. When a baby is born, he is born complete. Not a leg today and an arm tomorrow until eventually that baby is “born”. That baby is born instantly. Now the 9 months of development cannot be called part of the birth. It would be incorrect to draw the conclusion that just because it took 9 months for that baby to appear, that it took 9 months to be born. The gestation period of the baby is likened to the working of the Holy Spirit drawing the sinner to repentance.
The seed is planted, it is fertilized by the preaching of the Word of God, and eventually, if it is not faced with rebellious opposition and unbelief, that person will be birthed into the family of God. The Bible states that no man can come unto the Father unless he is drawn of the Holy Spirit. The time period between the planting of the seed and the salvation between certain individuals will vary, but there must be a time of conviction. This is not salvation, this is the gestation period. Here are several more verses that use the comparison of salvation to birth.
John 1:13 “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
This proves that it is not a gradual working of grace in our life due to our actions or attempts, but a divine work of Almighty God.
Galatians 3:26 “For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…”
1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God…”
1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”
Not only is salvation compared to the natural birth, but he also compares it to adoption. In John 1:12, we see that we are given full rights as a son of God at salvation. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” There is no probation period where we grow into this status, but we have power immediately!
Romans 8:15-17 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry “Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Hebrews 12:6 “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth , and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
Romans 1:5 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”
Some Contrasts
Even though there are many more typologies and pictures of salvation in the word of God, we want to turn our attention to the contrasts. This is where I feel we can see the absurdity of a gradual salvation come to greater light. You will see the stark differences between the lost and the unsaved and it will become extremely obvious that there is no middle ground.
Children of God versus Children of Satan
1 John 3:10 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."
John 8:42 “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me.”
John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.”
John 8:47 “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”
Ephesians 2:2 “Wherein in time past, ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”
Either a person is a son of God, or they’re not. It is just that simple. There is no halfway point here my friend.
Darkness versus Light
1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of theday: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. The they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us,who are of the day, be sober…”
Ephesians 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
1 John 1:5-7 “…God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Found versus Lost
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
2 Corinthians 4:3 “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.”
Luke 15:24 “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
Blindness versus Sight
John 9:25 “He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not, one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
John 9:39 “…I am come into this world, that they which see not might see…”
Ephesians 1:18 “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”
Dead versus Alive
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Colossians 2:13 “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”
Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
Ephesians 2:5 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”
These are only a few of the contrast given in God’s word that draws a very distinct line between the lost and the saved. It is not possible to be gradually a child of God, or to gradually be found, or to gradually have sight. You are either saved or lost, and when a lost person gets saved, the Bible says they are “quickened” by the Spirit of God. That means to be made alive. There is no state of being gradually alive and still partially dead. You are either one or the other. And if you are saved, you will know it. Furthermore, you will distinctly remember a specific time that you were convicted of your sins and accepted Him as your personal Savior. If you can’t remember that happening, unless you are the victim of amnesia or afflicted with Alzheimer’s, or you have never been born again. It is just that simple.
Cover image: AI illustration created for Doctrine Matters. It is not an actual photo of real people or a real event.
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