We have seen that in the initial stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of regeneration, the believers have been called by God, have been sanctified by the Spirit, have repented and believed, have been baptized and joined to the processed Triune God, have been redeemed, and made a new creation. Now we need to see that, as believers in Christ, we have been saved.
Mark 16:16a; Acts 16:31; and Romans 10:9 and 13 reveal clearly that the believers have been saved. In Mark 16:16a the Lord Jesus says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” To believe is to receive Christ for forgiveness of sins and regeneration that we may become children of God. To be baptized is to affirm this. Hence, to believe and to be baptized are two parts of one complete step for receiving God’s salvation.
Acts 16:19-34 speaks of the salvation of the Philippian jailer and his household. The jailer asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do that I may be saved?” (v. 30). They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household” (v. 31). The word “household” here indicates that the family of the believer is a complete unit for God’s salvation. Paul and Silas “spoke the word of God to him together with all those in his house...and he was baptized immediately, he and all his household. And he brought them up into his house and set a table before them; and he exulted, having believed in God with all his household” (vv. 32-34). The jailer, after believing and being baptized, came into fellowship with the apostles, the fellowship of the Body of Christ, as a token of his salvation.
Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth, Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from among the dead, you shall be saved.” Here we see that being saved involves the inward matter of believing in our heart and the outward matter of confessing with our mouth. Inwardly, in our heart, we need to believe that Jesus Christ was raised up from among the dead by God. Outwardly, with our mouth, we need to confess audibly and openly the Lord Jesus. By this believing and confessing we are saved.
Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The Greek word for “call” means to invoke a person, to call a person by name. Hence, calling on the Lord requires that we call out to Him or address Him audibly. In order to be saved we need to call upon the name of the Lord. By calling on His name, we participate in and enjoy God’s salvation.
First Timothy 1:1 speaks of God our Savior, for in His salvation He is not a law-giving God but the saving God. In Titus 3:4 and 5 Paul says that “the kindness and love to man of our Savior God appeared” and that “according to His mercy, He saved us.” It is the kindness and love of our Savior God that has saved us and made us different from others.
The believers have been saved by God in His trinity. In saving us God surely is the Triune God. The Father planned, the Son accomplished the Father’s plan, and the Spirit applies what the Son has accomplished according to the Father’s plan. Therefore, the Trinity has been exercised to save us.
The operation of the divine Trinity in the salvation of sinners is revealed in the three parables in Luke 15. These parables unveil and depict how the divine Trinity works to bring sinners back through the Son by the Spirit to the Father. Clearly, the shepherd refers to the Son, the woman refers to the Spirit, and the father refers to the heavenly Father. The Son came in His humanity as the Shepherd to find the sinner as a lost sheep and bring it back home (vv. 4-7). The Spirit seeks the sinner as a woman seeks carefully one lost coin until she finds it (vv. 8-10). The Father receives the repenting and returned sinner as a certain man receives his prodigal son (vv. 11-32). The entire divine Trinity treasures the sinner and participates in bringing him back to God. All three parables emphasize the love of the divine Trinity more than the fallen condition and repentance of the penitent sinner. The divine love is fully expressed in the Son’s tender care as the good Shepherd, in the Spirit’s fine seeking as the treasure lover, and in the Father’s warm receiving as a loving father.
The sequence of the Trinity in Luke 15 is different from that in Matthew 28:19. In Matthew 28:19 the sequence is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But in Luke we first have the Son as the shepherd, then the Spirit as the woman, and finally the Father as the father receiving his returned son. Therefore, in Luke 15 the sequence begins with the Son, goes to the Spirit, and leads to the Father. This sequence is exactly the same as that in Ephesians 2:18: “Through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” According to this verse, our access first is in the Son and then through the Spirit. Through the Son and in the Spirit we have access unto the Father. This is our access into the Triune God, access through the Son, in the Spirit, and unto the Father. Truly, as believers in Christ, we have been saved by God in His trinity.