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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman The
Process Of Getting Saved It's often understood
that when one first repents and believes in Jesus he or she immediately
receives God's Spirit into his or her life.
Is this always the case? Is
this what Acts 2:38 tells us? "Peter replied,
'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins. And
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
To begin, I view water
baptism in Acts 2:38 to be an outward expression of the inner reality that
one believes or trusts Jesus with his or her life.
With that in mind, there are three separate and distinct verbs or
actions in Acts 2:38 associated with getting saved, or as I call it, "initial salvation." Repenting
and believing are actions we do. Receiving
the Holy Spirit is an action prompted by Jesus, something He does. These
three actions are a process that leads to our initial salvation.
If getting saved is a process, do all three of these actions always
happen at the same time or might they take place over a period of time? Acts 8:12 states that
certain Samaritans believed and were water baptized, yet verses 16 and 17
state that they did not receive the Holy Spirit until later when Peter and
John prayed for them. Acts
19:6 states that certain Ephesians believed but did not receive the Holy
Spirit until later when Paul prayed for them.
Acts 10:44 states that certain Gentiles believed and received the
Holy Spirit into their lives in one moment of time.
These three instances suggest that the three actions leading to
getting saved may or may not be simultaneous.
In all of its varying
aspects, salvation is a process that culminates in our becoming like Jesus
presently is (1 John 3:2). If,
then, you have genuinely repented and believed, you will at some point but
not necessarily right away, receive God's Spirit into your life. For
one reason or another, both the Bible and life's experience suggests to me
that getting saved might well be a process that takes place over time.
Even though repenting
and believing are actions we do, God helps us repent by
"granting" us repentance as Acts 11:18 reads in the NIV and by
"distributing" faith to us as Romans 12:3 reads in the NIV.
In the final analysis, nothing concerning salvation will be
realized until God begins the process by calling or inviting us to salvation, as Peter said next.
Acts 8:39 reads:
"The promise is for
you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord
our God will call." Whether
you got saved in one brief moment of time or whether it took place over
a period of time, initial salvation consists of three God-inspired
actions, all of which must be included in our preaching of the gospel.
This is a serious, even eternal matter that we must get right.
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