Ephesians 2:8-9 proclaims, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” This means salvation is a free gift from God. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ made this free gift of salvation available, and the only way to receive salvation is to have faith in Jesus and in the sufficiency of His sacrifice. Of course, saving faith in Christ includes obedience to His gospel and application of His gospel to our lives. I must stress that salvation can come only through faith, and that faith must be in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus asserted, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He also said we must believe He is God manifested in the flesh as our Savior. “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).
In Acts 1 Jesus gave His disciples last minute instructions just before His ascension into heaven. He told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, namely the baptism of the Holy Ghost. About 120 disciples obeyed Him and gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem.
Acts 2 records that on the Jewish feast day of Pentecost the promised Spirit baptism came. Peter seized the opportunity to preach to the crowd. Standing with the other eleven apostles, he began to explain what had just happened and proceeded to preach about Jesus whom they had crucified, was both Lord and Christ (Messiah).
When the crowd heard this, they began to feel guilt and conviction of sin, for undoubtedly many of them had demanded the crucifixion of Jesus less than two months before. Consequently, they asked Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). As the context shows, they were asking, “How can we receive forgiveness for our sin? How can we correct the wrong we have done in rejecting Jesus and crucifying Him? How can we now accept Jesus as Lord and Messiah?” The essence of salvation is receiving forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, so their question simply meant, “What must we do to be saved?”
Peter gave, with the support of all the apostles: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).
We find only one other situation in the New Testament church that directly poses the question, “What must I do to be saved?”
Acts 16 records that the magistrates of Philippi, a city in Macedonia, jailed Paul and Silas for preaching the gospel. At midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God. Suddenly, an earthquake shook the prison and opened the doors. When the jailer awoke and realized what had happened he assumed the prisoners had all escaped. Apparently faced with the penalty of death for allowing this to happen, he decided to commit suicide. As he drew his sword, Paul shouted, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here” (Acts 16:28). When he heard this, the jailer called for a light and went to investigate for himself. He came trembling and fell down at the feet of Paul and Silas, realizing that they were the ones responsible for the miraculous earthquake. He brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31). The Bible further records, “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house” (Acts 16:32-34).
Each gives the same answer in different terms, from different viewpoints, and in different situations, but it is the same answer nonetheless. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus He was not answering a direct question about salvation. Instead, He was describing God’s plan of salvation for the future New Testament church that was about to come into existence.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Salvation comes only through repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith will lead to water baptism in the name of Jesus (birth of water) and to the baptism of the Spirit (birth of the Spirit).
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