The Traditional Understanding

The goal of salvation is to make our eternal residence in Heaven.

We attain the goal by professing faith in Christ.

Divine grace is a legal state of amnesty, a continuing, unconditional pardon of the sins of the believer. Our behavior on the earth, while important, is not critical to our salvation.

The principal task of the Christian is to not forget he has been saved by grace and to bring as many other people as possible into this state of eligibility for Heaven.

The Scriptural Understanding

The goal of salvation is the attainment of the resurrection to eternal life. Attaining the out-resurrection of the saints, which Paul held out as our objective, depends on our coming to know the power of Christ's resurrection and includes death to the world, to the lusts of our flesh—to our entire old nature as we share His sufferings and are conformed to His death. We are seeking total union with God through Christ.

Our salvation has to do with our relationship with Christ. We hope for the resurrection unto life so we can resume our activities on the earth in the Presence of the Lord.

The program of redemption begins when we are in union with Satan and reveal Satan's image in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. The program of redemption has been completed when we are in restful union with the Father through Christ and are revealing in our thoughts, words, and actions the image of Christ.

The Holy Spirit has given us four great types of redemption: the seven days of creation; the feasts of the Lord; the pilgrimage of Israel from Egypt to Canaan; and the seven furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

Each of the four types may be broken into seven stages of salvation. They help us understand our progress from Satan to God.

We attain the goal of inner resurrection (which will result in actual resurrection when the Lord appears) by receiving the Person of Christ. Receiving the Person of Christ and abiding in Him are a much more intimate and demanding experience than merely acknowledging that Christ is our Lord and Savior. It is an actual coming to Christ.

Divine grace is the Lord Jesus Himself. When we truly come to Him by faith He receives us. He assumes the responsibility for us and begins to cleanse us from sin and rebellion.

Although we may be very wicked when the Spirit leads us to Christ, the Lord forgives our sins. Then He begins the work of separating us completely from Satan, conforming us to His own death and resurrection and bringing us into perfect, complete union with Himself.

The work of moving us from Satan to God begins the moment we receive Christ, continues throughout our lifetime on the earth, and will be completed when the Lord returns from Heaven.

To be continued.