Search the Scriptures:
What Saves? (Part 1 of 12)

Part 1 of 12 · Salvation in Jesus Christ: The New Testament Witness to Grace, Faith, and the Blood

Before we talk about salvation, the blood of Jesus Christ, or water baptism, I want to set one rule for this whole series. It comes from Acts 17:11.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11, KJV)

The Bereans listened to the apostle Paul himself, and they still checked his preaching against the Scriptures. God called that noble. So do the same with me. Do not accept a teaching because a pastor, a church, a social media page, or this article says it. Open your Bible and see whether it agrees with the whole Word of God.

Here is what this series will show from the New Testament. God saves sinners by His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. He does it on the basis of the death, the shed blood, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The saving power is not in the water of baptism. Jesus Christ commanded baptism, and every believer should obey Jesus Christ in it. But the Bible never presents water as the payment for sin. Only the blood of Jesus Christ pays that debt.

The New Testament lays a clear foundation. God provides salvation by grace. Jesus Christ paid for sin by His death and rose again. The sinner receives Jesus Christ by believing on Him, and the Holy Ghost gives new life and seals the believer as God’s own. Water baptism is the believer’s act of obedience. In Acts 10 the Holy Ghost was given before anyone went into the water, which shows that the water does not cause it.

Paul puts both sides together. “For by grace are ye saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). And of Jesus Christ he writes, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Baptism matters, and Christians should be baptized. But we must never give the water the saving power the Bible gives to Jesus Christ.

So as you read each part, do what the Bereans did. Read the verses around every passage, compare Scripture with Scripture, and follow the evidence wherever God’s Word leads.

Search these Scriptures for yourself: Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:15; Romans 3:23–26; Ephesians 2:8–9; 1 Corinthians 15:1–4; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18–19; Acts 10:43–48; Ephesians 1:13–14; Titus 3:4–7.

Next in this series: Part 2, Jesus Said, Believe on Me.

Go Deeper

• What Really Saves You
• Why I Reject Baptismal Regeneration and Oneness Doctrine
• The Foundational Spiritual Principle: God’s Word Cannot Fail

Old Testament companion series: Without Shedding of Blood: Hebrews 9:22 and the Passover (Part 1 of 7)

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“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)