How To Teach Salvation

Many people have received the Holy Spirit, but then attended churches where they were taught doctrines that are not conducive to their new birth. This was not always due to impurity; sometimes it was simply due to ignorance. Whatever the case is, the person that has now received salvation will not thrive as a son of God if they're not getting a substantial spiritual diet.

One of the first things that some learn as new believers is that we are saved by God’s grace and mercy. We were taught that we did not get saved by our works or efforts, and therefore we don't ever have to worry about losing our salvation. We even learned that we will one day go to heaven because we received Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. This message has been labeled “the good news”.

However, there are some crucial gaps in these beliefs, and I want to address them, so that the people of God will no longer be malnourished or ignorant. This teaching will serve as a guide for pastors on how to minister salvation to new converts and new members alike.

It is in fact true that we are saved by grace; but even though we are saved by grace, we must walk in graceby walking in holiness. We must be found walking in holiness when Jesus returns. We're living in a time now where holiness has somehow been labeled as ‘works’; but this is not the truth. Holiness is not ‘works’; it is what is produced out of our love for the Father; and it is the nature of those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Holiness is a manifestation of our relationship with God; not a ‘work’, a ‘job’ or a ‘chore’.

Let me give you an example. I know that I am a man. My knowledge of myself being a man causes me to wear men’s clothing, go to a men's bathroom, walk like a man, speak like a man, think like a man. I'm not working to do that. All of those things are just manifestations of what I am. I'm not working to think like a man or fighting the urge to put on female clothes, or go into a female bathroom. I'm putting on male clothes because that's a manifestation of the man I am. So it is instinctively done. It is not something that I have to strive to do. The same is true with holiness. Holiness is a natural walk for the sons of God. This is called walking in and after the spirit.

Let’s go into a scripture that people use to really establish that sin is inevitable as long as we're living in these bodies:

1 John 1:5-10

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

To truly understand what is being said here, you have to go back to the third verse.

1 John 1:3

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

John is making a distinction here between two sets of people. The first set is John and his comrades - all of whom have fellowship with the Father. The second set of people do not have fellowship with the Father, and they are the ones that John is speaking to. At this point, he’s not talking to those who are born again; he is addressing the unsaved, and expressing his desire for them to come into fellowship with the Father. This verse sets the precedent for how to interpret the verses that follow.

Now, back to the sixth verse:

1 John 1:6

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

The Apostle John has a very matter-of-fact writing style. In other words, he's leaving no stone for you to crawl under. He's saying exactly what he means so that you can now judge yourself. Here in this verse he’s saying, “Just look at your life. If your life is one that walks in darkness, and you're saying you have fellowship with God, the darkness of your life is what's testifying to you that you are lying. You are not telling the truth because there is no way you could have fellowship with God and still walk in darkness”.

1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

In other words, I walk like Christ if I am walking in the light, in the same way that Christ walks in the light; and if you see me doing this, it is because we have fellowship with one another. So just like darkness is a manifestation of a life without fellowship, light is a manifestation of a life with fellowship. Hallelujah!

Furthermore, when he says the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, this is not saying that the blood of Jesus Christ only removes the judgment of sin, or the punishment of sin. It means so much more than that, because Romans 7 defines sin as a living entity, a ruling entity that once lived in our members. But the blood of Jesus through salvation cleanses us from that ruling entity that exercised dominion over us. Now that we are saved, if we sin, it would have to be out of choice. It is not something that is in our nature to do any longer. The sons of God have received a spiritual blood transfusion at salvation and we now have the blood of Jesus Christ and his blood cleansed us from the law of sin and death.

1 John 1:5-8

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Pay attention to the colon at the end of verse 6. This means that John is going to elaborate on what he said before the colon. In other words, he is about to explain what he meant in verses 5 and 6, using verses 7 and 8. Verse 7 is describing a life of fellowship with God, someone who walks in the light of holiness; while verse 8 is describing the lie or deception of someone who walks in darkness, and therefore does not have fellowship with God, but tries to profess that they do.

Verse 8 is not saying that those of us who are the sons of God, have sin in us. Neither is it saying that the truth is not in us. In fact, it is not referring to the sons of God at all. This verse is describing the situation of someone without the Spirit; they walk in darkness, have no fellowship with God, and lie to themselves that they have not sinned. We know the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and He resides in all those who are born again. It is actually a confrontation to those who know they aren’t born again and try to disguise themselves as being saved despite their obvious lack of fellowship with God.

1 John 1:9-10

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The prayer of the sinner should be, “I am a sinner. Lord, I need you to save me, fill me with your spirit. Remove all darkness from my heart, soul and body, so that I can fellowship with you.”

When we take this passage out of context, we will minister to saved people as though they are stuck in a cycle of sinning, confessing sin and asking for forgiveness. This is the same operation that took place in the Old Testament, where sacrifices of bulls and goats were offered up for sins each year:

Hebrews 10:1-5

1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

If I'm continually sinning, then that’s my way of saying that His blood did not take away my sins.

The truth is, when we have genuine love and fellowship with the Lord, it naturally motivates us to obey His commandments. This obedience is not a struggle but a byproduct of our relationship with God.

Fellowship with God produces qualities like integrity, loyalty, and faith that set the sons of God apart from those who aren’t born again. Keeping God's word hidden in our hearts provides a refuge in the midst of temptations, and produces a life of holiness.

However, make no mistake, this cannot be possible without the infilling of the Holy Ghost. This experience is the transformation required to be born again and to have a mind that can now fellowship with God. Living in holiness becomes the norm for believers because our nature has changed through salvation. Pastors, we must teach new believers about this natural inclination toward holiness that comes from salvation and continued fellowship with God.

You would have noticed that we were deliberate about reading and re-reading these verses; our aim wasn’t to be redundant. We did this to ensure that we remained within the context and allowed the scriptures to interpret themselves, rather than assign a meaning to what we read. When you attempt to teach salvation, you will be confronted with these same scriptures and in your explanations, it's not good to say, “my pastor says” or “my apostle says”. You should always have a biblical foundation for anything that you minister to the Body of Christ. You should understand how your apostle or pastor came to their conclusion based on the word of God. Let this be your blueprint for how to handle those situations.