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THE CONDITIONS FOR SALVATION God’s plan of salvation as revealed in the Bible is strictly conditional. Notice carefully the voice of scripture. “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, “And saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel”—Mark 1:14–15. Jesus preached the conditions of salvation as repentance and faith. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”—John 3:36. Eternal life is received through believing on Christ. To fail to believe means death. “Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”—Acts 2:38. Peter insists on repentance as a condition of salvation. The Act of baptism testified to repentance. “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord”—Acts 3:19. Repentance here is associated with conversion and the blotting out of sins. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent”—Acts 17:30. The command to all men is to repent. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”—Rom. 5:1. Our justification is obtained through faith in Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God”—Eph. 2:8. Salvation is of grace, but is appropriated through faith. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”—I John 1:9. Confession of sins is a mark of repentance. Upon confession forgiveness is promised. “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you”—Matt. 6:14. The forgiveness of our sins is conditioned on our forgiving the trespasses of others. From these texts it is seen that the main Bible conditions for salvation are faith and repentance. It is very necessary that salvation be bestowed on conditions. Man’s moral constitution is such that his salvation must be a matter of personal choice. And choice must be given expression in acts. If it were God’s plan to save man unconditionally, he should have so dealt with Adam, as to prevent the fall. We are well aware of the fact that God desires the salvation of all men. The fervency of this desire is shown in what he has sacrificed to save the world. In view of this fact, we cannot think that God would place unnecessary obstructions in the way of man’s salvation, nor require purposeless conditions of him. We may expect to find conditions of salvation, only such as, according to the nature of the case, are essential. No ceremony can be essential to salvation. God can save without ceremony and does save. No ceremony can be of sufficient importance to be made a necessary condition of the salvation of an immortal soul. The necessary conditions are such as man must, according to the nature of the case, meet to accept salvation and as will vindicate the holiness of God. For example, how can a man accept salvation who does not believe in it? How can a man accept pardon who denies being guilty? How can a man be saved from sin who will not give up sin? How is God’s holiness to be upheld if he pardons the sinner, then allows him to continue in sin? Careful thought will direct us to what are necessary conditions for salvation, and these are the very conditions required in the Bible.
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