Too often, I see Christians struggling to live in the victory we see outlined in the New Testament. This may be because of the way we view salvation

For many people, salvation is merely a matter of having our sins forgiven so we can go to Heaven when we die. It’s all about having the debt of sin dealt with so we can secure our eternity with God. From there, we must try and hang on until we finally make it to the pearly gates.

To be clear, the forgiveness of our sins is a very important part of salvation, as we read in Ephesians 1:7 – 8,

⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸ that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. NET

There is no salvation without the forgiveness of our sins. Forgiveness is what makes it possible for us to have a relationship with the Lord. However, there is more to salvation than that.

Saved From Our Sins

Let’s look at what the angel Gabriel said to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, in Matthew 1:21. Referring to Mary he says,

“She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” NET

From our earliest days, our sins have dominated us. They exercised control over every facet of our lives. While we were in this condition, there was nothing we could do to reform ourselves. Even if we stopped sinning in one way, we were still sinning in other ways. This was our hopeless plight.

This is why salvation has to be more than just the forgiveness of our sins. To forgive our sins while leaving us at their mercy would be almost pointless. Our lives would be reduced to a never-ending cycle of sin and confession.

Oh…wait…that sounds a lot like the lives of a lot of Christians!!

Look again at what the angel said. He made it clear that Jesus was coming to save us from our sins. While this undoubtedly would include the forgiveness of our sins, it would also include saving us from their dominion. It would mean lifting us out of their control to a place where we once again had a choice of whether or not to engage with them. It would bring us to a place where we would only have to sin if we wanted to.

Not Perfect

Now, I am in no way insinuating that we are going to come into some place of sinless perfection. However, I am saying that salvation liberates us from the control of sin so that we sin less than we once did. This is a facet of salvation that too few know or experience. Knowing this part of salvation, however, is a key component to living in the Reign.

M

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.