A disciple is someone committed to following Jesus Christ and learning from Him. Every Christian should be a committed and growing disciple, but not all are (Bing 3-4)
The salvation of justification is distinct from the salvation of sanctification. The former saves us from the penalty of sin once for all. The latter saves us from the power of sin in a lifetime process as Christ lives through us (Bing 20).
Not every believer is necessarily a disciple. This can be clearly seen in John 8:30-31. Here, Jesus addresses those who have believed in Him for eternal life (v. 30) yet He gives them a condition for being a committed disciple: “Then Jesus said to those who believed in Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed’” (v. 31). To abide means to continue in, not believe in. A believer becomes a committed disciple if he follows and keeps God’s Word. Not every believer does that.
Salvation from the penalty of sin (1st tense in the past)
Disciple; present tense salvation from the power of sin; progressive sanctification
Saved (Coming to Christ)
Following after Christ
Has been justified; positional righteousness
Is being practically and presently sanctified; practical righteousness
Spiritual birth
Spiritual growth
Absolutely free
Very costly
Believes in Christ as Savior
Submits to Christ as Master; obedience to Him as Lord
Faith in Jesus Christ
Works for Jesus Christ
Grace for eternal salvation
Merit for eternal rewards
Justification
Present-tense progressive sanctification
Spiritual birth
Spiritual growth
Gift given
Prize earned
Relationship established
Fellowship enjoyed
Believing in Christ for salvation from eternal damnation
Committing to Christ as Lord
Damnation for unbelief
Discipline for disobedience
Undeserved grace for salvation
Freedom from the Law (Bing 4, 28)
An instantaneous event, at a point in time
Lifetime process in time
Placed into Christ
Transformed into Christlikeness
One condition of believing in Christ as Savior
Condition is commitment to Christ as Lord and abiding (remaining in fellowship) in Him
What God did for me
What God is doing through me
Christ died on the cross for me; requires Christ’s cross
I take up the cross for Christ and I die for Him; requires the believer’s cross
Saved from the penalty of sin
Saved from the power of sin (Bing 4, 21, 28, 51, 53-54; Stegall Chapter 7; Freely By His Grace Chapter 5)
Is finished
Is not finished
What God gives believers
What believers give to God
Non-meritorious
Merits a reward
Benefit: eternal life
Benefit: eternal rewards
Eternal Salvation
Rewards
Is offered to unbelievers
Are offered to believers
Is appropriated by grace through faith alone in Christ alone apart from works (Rom 3:28; Eph 2:8-9)
Are obtained by grace through on-going faith resulting in Christ-honoring works (1 Cor 3:5-13)
Is received the moment of faith in Christ (Jn 5:24)
Are given out at the Judgment Seat of Christ after the Rapture (Rom 14:10; 2 Cor 5:10)
Can never be lost (1 Cor 3:15)
May be lost (1 Cor 3:11-15)
Makes one accepted before God (Eph 1:6)
Reflecting that one’s post-salvation life was well-pleasing to God (2 Cor 5:9)
Eternal deliverance
Eternal privilege and function
No degrees
Degrees (Stegall Chapter 6)
Is the believer’s present possession (John 3:16-18, 36)
Are the believer’s possible future attainment (1 Cor 3:14)
Solely involves trusting in Christ (What do you think of Christ?)
Involve:
Determines one’s eternal destiny (1 Jn 5:11-13)
Determine your function and privilege in heaven (Phil 3:11-14; 2 Pet 1:11)
Will result in praise to God (Rev 5:8-14)
Will result in praise to God (Rev 4:9-11) (Rokser, Shall Never Perish Forever, Chapter 19)
Justification Before God
Practical Sanctification
God declares righteous the believing sinner (Rom 4:1-3)
God makes righteous the yielded, dependent believer who responds to God’s Word (John 17:17; Gal 5:16)
God imputes righteousness to the believer in his standing before God (Rom 4:4-8)
God imparts righteousness to the believer, affecting his state practically (Heb 13:21)
Occurs outside the believing sinner (1 Cor 6:11)
Occurs inside the responsive believer (Eph 3:16)
Is a one-time event at a point in time when a sinner believes in Christ (Gal 2:16)
Is to be an ongoing process as the believer walks by faith under the Spirit’s control (2 Cor 3:18)
Involves salvation from sin’s penalty (Rom 5:9)
Involves salvation from sin’s power practically (Rom 6:11-13)
Changes a believer’s eternal destiny (Titus 3:7)
Changes a believer’s present life (Eph 5:15-16)
Results in having peace with God (Rom 5:1)
Results in having the peace of God (Phil 4:9)
Is absolute and not a matter of degrees (1 Cor 1:30)
Can increase as believers grow in grace (1 Thess 4:1-3)
Is solely by God’s grace through faith (Rom 3:24)
Is solely by God’s grace through faith resulting in good works (Rom 6:14) (Rokser, Shall Never Perish Forever, Chapter 19)
Past Salvation (Luke 7:50; Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; 2 Tim 1:9)
Present Salvation (2 Cor 7:10; Phil 2:12-13; 1 Tim 4:16; James 1:21; 2:14; 5:20)
Future Salvation (Rom 5:9-10; 13:11; 1 Cor 3:15)
Saved from the Penalty of Sin (in hell)
Saved from the Power of Sin (in one’s earthly life)
Saved from the Presence of Sin (in heaven)
Justification
Progressive sanctification
Glorification
Point of time — when a person trusts Christ for eternal salvation
Process of time — as the believer walks by faith and the Holy Spirit’s power
Point of time – either at the believer’s death (2 Cor 5:10) or the Rapture (1 Thess 4:13-18)
By grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone apart from works (Acts 16:31)
By grace alone, by faith alone, resulting in good works (Rom 6:1-14; 8:1-4)
By grace alone, through one’s initial faith alone at justification (Stegall Chapter 7)
Great White Throne Judgment
Judgment Seat of Christ
For unbelievers
For believers
At the end of the kingdom era
Before or during the kingdom era
Based on lack of faith in Christ
Based on faithfulness to Christ
Results in eternity in the lake of fire
Results in eternal rewards gained or denied (Bing 55)
By relationship I mean an objective relationship, such as a son’s biological relationship to his father. By fellowship I mean the quality of sharing between the two people in that relationship. Every son is related to his father, but not every son has a quality relationship with his father. A person can have a relationship with another person, but not necessarily fellowship.
Family of God
Fellowship with God
Positional Experiential Established once for all Maintained or lost Secure Conditional
Experiential
Established once for all
Maintained or lost
Secure
Conditional (Bing 23)
Entered at a point of time when born again (John 1:12-13; 3:1-18; 1 John 3:2)
Enjoyed in the present if a believer walks in the light (1 Jn 1:3-7)
True of all genuine believers in Christ (Gal 3:26; 1 Jn 5:1)
Not true of all believers . . . “if” (1 Jn 1:5-10)
Sins are positionally / judicially forgiven (Eph 1:7; Col 2:13; 1 Jn 2:12)
Sins may be parentally forgiven (1Jn 1:9)
Faith alone required (John 1:12; Gal 3:26)
Faith and confession of sin required (Heb 11:6; 1 Jn 1:9)
Evidenced by a new nature (2 Pet 1:3-4); God’s chastisement (Heb 12:6-8), and becoming a new creation (2 Cor 5:17)
Evidenced by obedience to God’s will (1 Jn 2:3-6) and love for other believers (1 Jn 2:7-11) (Rokser, Shall Never Perish Forever, Chapter 19)
In Paul’s epistles, theology precedes practical exhortations.
Theology – What God has done for us
Practice – What we can do for God
Romans 1-11
Romans 12-16
Galatians 1-4
Galatians 5-6e
Ephesians 1-3
Ephesians 4-6
Colossians 1-2
Colossians 3-4 (Bing 36)
Eternal Salvation
Temporal Salvation
Received once in justification
Experienced many times
Used of unbelievers eternally delivered
Used of believers presently delivered
Deliverance from eternal hell
Deliverance from something undesirable (Bing 47)
Eternal Life Received
Eternal life Enjoyed (John 10:10a; 17:3; 1 Timothy 6:12, 19)
Only done in this lifetime (Rokser, Stegall, & Witzig 42).
Seeing the Difference
Wrath / Punishment
Chastening
It is connected to
God’s holiness
God’s love
It is upon
Unbelievers
Believers
Status of its recipient
Child of wrath
Child of God
It is for
God’s profit
Our profit
It desires
Retribution and vengeance
Correction and change
It involves
God forsaking
God confronting
It results in
Fruit of justice — propitiation
Peaceable fruit of righteousness
Its timing is
Temporal and eternal
Temporal only (Rokser, Stegall, & Witzig 386)
In this passage Paul contrasts three types of people. The “natural” (psychikos) person is described as someone who perceives life merely through the physical senses and not by faith in revelation that comes from the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:14). This natural or “soulish” (psychikos) man is devoid of the Holy Spirit (Jude 19) and therefore is unsaved (Rom. 8:9). The second person is the “spiritual” (pneumatikos) individual (1 Cor. 2:15; 3:1), who is not only saved but also characterized by the influence of God’s Spirit (pneuma) in his life. The “spiritual” believer is filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and able to understand Spirit-given revelation and apply it to life (1 Cor. 2:16–3:1). The third type of person is the “carnal” (sarkikos/sarkinos) individual, whose life is characterized by his flesh (sarx) or sinful nature. This person is saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but he walks according to his flesh rather than the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:2-4; Gal. 5:16). Since he is not rightly related to the Spirit of God in his life, he has a diminished capacity for understanding and applying the Word of God (1 Cor. 3:2) (Stegall Chapter 7).
Natural
Spiritual
Carnal (based on 1 Cor 2:14-3:4)
Unregenerate
Regenerate
Regenerate
Void of the Spirit
Indwelt and Filled with the Spirit
Indwelt by the Spirit, but not Filled
Walks by senses
Walks by the Spirit
Walks by the flesh
Regards God’s Word as foolish
Discerns all things by God’s Word
Minimal discernment of God’s Word (Stegall Chapter 7)
When
Cause
What
Verses
Remedy
SPIRITUAL
At conception
Born in Adam
Separation from a right relationship with God
Gen 2:17; Eph 2:1
Salvation; being “born again” (Jn 3:3-18)
PHYSICAL
When you die
The fall, the curse, and being in Adam
Separation of your soul and spirit from your body
Gen 35:18; Heb 9:27; James 2:26
Only “sleep” for a believer, then bodily resurrection (1 Thess 4:13-18)
ETERNAL
Begins when you did physically
Physical death apart from faith in Christ
Separation of your body, soul, and spirit from God forever
Rev 20:14; Matt 25:46
Salvation with eternal life (Jn 5:24)
POSITIONAL
At the moment you get saved
Born again in Christ; Identification with Christ’s death
Separation from your old unregenerate self as a new creation in Christ
Rom 6:3-6; Gal 2:20
It is a remedy!
TEMPORAL
During your life, after salvation
Personal sins of the believer
Separation from a right relationship with God
Rom 8:13; Luke 15:24; James 1:15; 1 Tim 5:6
Walking in the light and confession of sin as needed (1 Jn 1:3-10)
OPERATIONAL
During old age
Not truly walking by faith in sanctification
Separation from a right divine production of good works and a right testimony before man
James 2:14-26
Confession of sin and dependence on God (James 1:19-25)
SEXUAL
Physical limitation
Separation from physical ability to reproduce
Rom 4:17-19
Miracle from God (Rokser, Shall Never Perish Forever, Chapter 31)
Sources Used
Bing, Charles C. Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship: How to Understand Some Difficult Bible Passages. Grace Theology Press. Kindle Edition.
Hixson, Whitmire, Zuck. Freely by His Grace: Classical Grace Theology. Grace Gospel Press. Kindle Edition.
Rokser, Dennis M. Shall Never Perish Forever. Grace Gospel Press. Kindle Edition.
Rokser, Dennis M.; Stegall, Thomas L.; Witzig, Kurt. Should Christians Fear Outer Darkness? Grace Gospel Press. Kindle Edition.
Stegall, Thomas L. Must Faith Endure for Salvation to Be Sure?: A Biblical Study of the Perseverance versus Preservation of the Saints (Kindle Locations 2306-2308). Grace Gospel Press. Kindle Edition.
