Salvation-The Three Stages of Salvation
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 5, 2016
Salvation: The Three Stages of Salvation
Lesson # 13
As we noted in our introduction, the Christian’s salvation, i.e. his deliverance is accomplished in three stages: (1) positional (2) experiential (3) perfective or ultimate.
Like the church age believer’s sanctification, their deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system is accomplished in three stages:
(1) Positional: At the moment the believer exercised faith alone in Christ alone, they were delivered “positionally” from spiritual death and eternal condemnation, the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature through the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:9; John 4:22; Acts 4:12; 13:26, 47; 16:17; Romans 1:16; 10:1, 10; 11:11; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Ephesians 1:13; Philippians 1:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:10; 5:9; 6:9; 1 Peter 1:9-10; 2 Peter 3:15; Jude 3; Revelation 7:10).
By “positionally,” I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which was accomplished at the moment of conversion through the baptism of the Spirit when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit placed the believer in an eternal union with Christ.
In other words, the “positional” aspect of the believer’s salvation refers to the past action of God saving us from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation when we trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
The believer’s deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for him to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
It also guarantees the believer’s deliverance in a perfective sense at the rapture, which is based upon the sovereign decision of God rather than the volition of the believer.
(2) Experiential: After conversion, the believer can “experience” deliverance from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that they have been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This constitutes the believer’s spiritual life after being delivered from spiritual death (2 Corinthians 1:6; 7:10; Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Philippians 2:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17; 2 Timothy 2:10; 3:15; Hebrews 2:3, 10; 1 Peter 2:2).
In other words, the “experiential” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system in the present moment.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. (NASB95)
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (NASB95)
1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. (NASB95)
In this verse, the verb sozo refers to Timothy experiencing his deliverance from sin and Satan and his cosmic system by obeying Paul’s previous command to continue making it his habit of persevering in exemplifying Christ-like character, which is the direct result of obeying the first command in 1 Timothy 4:16.
Timothy will continue to exemplify Christ-like character by obeying this first command to continue making it his habit of paying attention to himself, i.e. his character and conduct.
Consequently, by obeying these two commands he will experience his deliverance from sin and Satan.
The verb also refers to those who adhere to Timothy’s teaching experiencing their deliverance from sin and Satan as well.
They will experience this deliverance if Timothy obeys the second command in 1 Timothy 4:16 to continue making it his habit of persevering in teaching sound doctrine.
This second command is the direct result of the first command, which called for Timothy to continue making it his habit of paying attention to his teaching.
Thus, if Timothy teaches sound doctrine, his listeners will experience their deliverance from sin and Satan as well.
(3) Perfective: At the resurrection the believer will be delivered “in a perfective sense” and permanently from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature when they receive their resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Romans 13:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9; Hebrews 1:14; 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5).
In other words, the “perfective” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s future deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system (Philippians 3:20-21).
In Hebrews 9:24-28, all three stages of the believer’s salvation are referred to.
Hebrews 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (experiential aspect of the believer’s salvation); 25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (This makes possible the “positional” aspect of salvation) 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. (This refers to the “future” deliverance of the believer at the rapture). (NASB95)
Warren Wiersbe commenting on Hebrews 9:24-28, writes, “Did you notice that the word ‘appear’ is used three times in Hebrews 9:24–28? These three uses give us a summary of our Lord’s work. He has appeared to put away sin by dying on the cross (Hebrews 9:26). He is appearing now in heaven for us (Hebrews 9:24). One day, He shall appear to take Christians home (Hebrews 9:28). These ‘three tenses of salvation’ are all based on His finished work.”
Just as in the believer’s sanctification, their deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for them to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God through the enabling power of the Spirit.
It also guarantees the believer’s deliverance in a perfective sense at the rapture.
The believer can experience their deliverance from sin, spiritual death, Satan and his cosmic system through the omnipotence of the Spirit by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that they have been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ (Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17).
From our study we can see that the Scriptures teach that each and every member of the human race is a sinner by nature and practice as a result of Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden.
Adam’s sin gave him and his progeny a sin nature.
Also, Adam and his progeny were spiritually dead.
Even more terrible the sin nature and spiritual death would result in eternal condemnation in the eternal lake of fire since God is holy and cannot tolerate sin or sinners.
Thus the entire human race was in an absolutely terrible predicament.
However, God in His grace provided the solution for all these problems through His Son Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross as well as His resurrection.
This deliverance is available to each and every member of the human race since Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross and His resurrection were on behalf of each and every member of the human race.
The Christian is a sinner who has received this great deliverance through faith in Jesus Christ.
In other words, the Christian receives this deliverance as a gift from God based upon the merits of the object of their faith, Jesus Christ.
So my prayer is that this study will educate the Christian as to what it really means to be “saved.”
Every Christian should have knowledge as to what it means to be saved.
They should know what they are saved from.
If they don’t know, how can they tell the non-Christian they need to be saved?
Saved from what?
This means that before we communicate the good news (the gospel) of this salvation, the non-Christian must be informed of their great need for salvation and why?
Otherwise, if they don’t recognize and acknowledge their need for this deliverance, they will never even consider Jesus Christ as Savior.
Thus, not only is it my prayer that the Christian would be educated by this study for their own benefit but also that they would take this information to evangelize the non-Christian.