What Does It Mean to Be Saved?

David Gushee teaches Christian Ethics at Mercer University. He has helped me to clarify my thinking about what it means to be saved.

He writes that in the Gospel of Luke twice (10:25, 18:18) Jesus is asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus turns the question back on the lawyer who asks it. The lawyer replies with the Old Testament commands to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (cf. Mt. 22:34-40). Jesus affirms his answer: "Do this, and you will live." The lawyer then tries to narrow the meaning of neighbor. So Jesus tells the unforgettable parable of the compassionate Samaritan, who proved to be a neighbor to a bleeding roadside victim.

In Luke 18, Jesus responds to the same question, this time from the man we know as “the rich young ruler,” by quoting the second part of the Ten Commandments forbidding adultery, murder, theft, and false witness, and mandating honor towards parents. His questioner says that he has kept these commandments, and Jesus calls on him to "sell all … and distribute to the poor." Jesus assures him, "You will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." The "extremely rich" ruler won't do this, and Jesus goes on to teach his disciples about how hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.

In our Baptist tradition, we direct people to "invite Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior," using a formula called the "sinner's prayer." Or we simply say, "Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved." But Jesus never taught easy believism. Whether he was telling the rich young ruler to sell all and follow him or telling a crowd near Capernaum that to do the work of God was, yes, to believe on him (John 6:28-29), he called people to abandon their own agenda and trust him radically, which calls for both belief and action. “Mediocrity and hypocrisy,” says Gushee, “characterize the lives of many avowed Christians. Anyone can, and most Americans do, ‘believe’ in Jesus rather than some alternative savior. Many Americans say a prayer asking Jesus to save them. But not many embark on a life fully devoted to the love of God, the love of neighbor, the moral practice of God's will, and radical, costly discipleship.”

“We tend to confuse the beginning of the faith journey with its entirety. Yes, believe in Jesus—that's the first step. Yes, invite Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior. Then, empowered by God's grace, embark on the journey of discipleship, in which you seek to love God with every fiber of your being, to love your neighbor as yourself, to live out God's moral will, and to follow Jesus where he leads you, whatever the cost.” That is the approach to being saved I want New Hope Baptist Church to preach and teach.