THE
THREE TENSES OF SALVATION
T.P.
Simmons
Salvation
is a very broad term. C. 1. Scofield, in his comment on Rom. 1:16, says very
aptly: "The Hebrew and Greek words for salvation imply the
ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness. Salvation is
the great inclusive word of the Gospel, gathering into itself all the redemptive
acts and processes: as justification, redemption, grace, propitiation,
imputation, forgiveness, sanctification, and
glorification."
Salvation,
therefore, in its broad sense, has to do with both the soul and the body, with
the present life as well as with future life. It has reference, not only to the
remission of sin's penalty an d the removal of its guilt, but also to the
conquering of the power of sin and to the final removal of the presence of sin
from the body. It is only by recognizing this that one can grasp the full sweep
of the Bible doctrine of salvation. And it is only by being able to classify each passage dealing with salvation on the basis of the
foregoing facts that one can avoid the confusion that exists in the mind of the
average believer. We can best accomplish this end by noting that salvation is
spoken of in three tenses, and in carefully considering each tense. All three
tenses are roughly summed up in 2 Cor. 1:10: "Who delivered us (past tense) from
so great a death, and doth deliver (present tense): in whom we trust that he
will (future tense) yet deliver us."
I.
THE PAST TENSE OF SALVATION
We
have been saved from the PENALTY of sin.
Note
the following passages:
"Thy
faith hath saved thee" (Luke 7:50). "By grace have ye been saved through faith"
(Eph. 2:8) ...... who saved us and called us with a holy
calling" (2 Tim. 1:9)."...according to his mercy he saved us"
(Titus 3:5). All of these passages, and many more like them, speak of salvation
as a work finished in the past. This tense of salvation is coincident with the
believer's past sanctification, as considered in the former chapter. It has to
do (1) with the soul; (2) with the remission of sin's penalty, the removal of
guilt, and even the removal of sin's presence from the soul.
In
this sense the salvation of the believer is complete. As we have said of
justification, so we may say of this tense of salvation: it is an act, and not a
process. It occurs and is complete the moment the individual believes. It admits
of no degrees nor stages.
It
is under this tense of salvation that we are to classify the passages that speak
of the believer as possessing eternal life now. See John 5:24; John 6:47; 17:2,
3; 1 John 3:13; 5:11, 13. This means simply, as expressed in John 5:24, that the
believer has passed from under all danger of condemnation and the power of the
second death.
II.
THE PRESENT TENSE OF SALVATION
We
are being saved from the POWER of sin.
"The
word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved
(marg., are being saved) it is the power of God" (1 Cor.
1:18).
The
Greek participle in the above passage is in the present tense, and denotes
"those being saved, the act . . . being in progress, not completed' (E. P.
Gould).
It
is with reference to the present tense of salvation that Phil. 2:12 speaks when
it says: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." The meaning of
this passage is that the Philippian believers were to make effective in their
lives the new life that God had implanted in their hearts.
There
are other passages in which salvation is not mentioned, which, nevertheless,
refer to the present process of salvation; such as Rom. 6:14; Gal. 2:19,20; 2
Cor. 3:18.
In
the present tense of salvation believers are being saved through the work of the
indwelling Spirit from the power of sin to hinder the new life. It is thus
equivalent to progressive sanctification. It has to do not
with the soul, nor with the body, but with the life.
We
shall be saved from the PRESENCE of sin.
In
the following passages salvation is spoken of as something yet future. Rom. 5:9,
10; 8:24; 13:11; 1 Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1:13, 14; 1 Thess. 5:8;
Heb. 10:36; 1 Pet. 1.5; 1 John 3:2, 3.
Paul
tells us in Rom. 8:23 what this future salvation is in the main. It is "the
redemption of our body," by which he means the application of redemption to the
believer's body. This will take place in the resurrection of those who sleep in
Christ (1 Cor. 15:52-56; 1 Thess. 4.16) and in the rapture of
those who are alive at Christ's coming in the air (1 Thess. 4:17). It is only
then that the regenerated spirit will enter into the full fruition of salvation.
Thus we read that the spirit is to be saved "in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1
Cor. 5:5). This tense of salvation has to do mainly with the body and the
presence of sin in the body.
It
is under this head that we are to classify all the passages that speak of
eternal life as something the believer will receive in the future. See Matt.
25:46; Mark 10:30; Titus 1:2; 3:7.
Thus
we have the beautiful harmony that exists between all the passages that touch on
the subject of salvation. There is no conflict between these passages, because
they refer to different phases of salvation. It is absurd and
heretical for any man to take one set out of the three, no matter which set he
takes, and seek to deny or nullify one or the other or both of the two remaining
sets. The way of truth is to take all of them rightly divided.
Let
it be remarked in closing that salvation in all its tenses and phases is of the
Lord. Paul gives us God's method of work in salvation from
beginning to end in Phil 1:6 and 2:13. He begins the work of salvation and He
carries it on to its consummation. All along the line He works in us "both to
will and to do His good pleasure." Moreover it is all of grace through faith.
"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, The just shall live by faith" (Rom. 1:17).