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Q: How can a person know his/her salvation status?
A: What a GREAT question, the short answer to which is, it's by faith. But the operative question is, ‘Faith in what exactly and practically?’ Let’s set the stage to address this question.
The first thing The Lord did after He brought the Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery was to give them His basic laws (The Ten Commandments) by which He expected them to live. During their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness, He gave them detailed principles to help elucidate practical aspects of these laws. He did all or this through a ‘law and principle giver’, Moses, whom He had pre-selected before they left Egypt. Moses was commissioned to write all of this down. He wrote it in four of the five books of The Bible – Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. He was also the only man whom The Lord privileged to receive Heaven’s account of creation, plus a summary account of mankind’s first few millennia on Earth - The Book of Genesis. Historically, this account was focused around the lives of three men who would become the patriarchs of a new people, nation and culture – Hebrew. Spiritually, this account was all about laying the foundation for Heaven’s multi-millennial strategy to redeem mankind from the condition Adam plunged all of us hopelessly deep into – sinfulness. The seeds of salvation of The Lord’s ‘elect’ were sown in two promises He gave:
(1) first to satan, the spirit who possessed the serpent in Genesis 3:15 – the promise that the woman’s Seed would defeat satan’s kingdom on Earth, referring to victory The Lord, Himself, would achieve over satan in the end.
(2) second to Abraham – the promise that, in Abraham’s Seed, all families of the world would be blessed, again referring to the birth of The Lord, Himself, as The Seed of woman, (Genesis 12:3 and 26:4) 1
Now let’s transition to the manner in which salvation seeds sown in these promises, would begin to bear fruits in the form of born-again Christ-followers, i.e., the church. This particular status only became broadly available to us with the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Prior to His death, people who died in faith toward Him as ‘the unseen Lord God’, became His ‘saints’.
Shortly after His ascension into Heaven, The Lord applied a strangely very similar pattern in His pre-selection and commissioning of Paul as an apostle, to do the equivalent of what Moses had done! The strategic parallelisms between these two men are astounding, though likely missed by many. I refer to Paul as ‘The New Testament Equivalent of Moses’. 2 After his shocking conversion, Paul was privileged to receive highly specialized insights and revelations into Heaven’s multi-millennial plan of salvation, including a unique vision into Heaven, itself! He was commissioned to preach and write about most of this, which He did with deep passion to the point of his execution. 3 Paul wrote most of The New Testament, from Romans-to-Philemon, and some suspect He may have also written The Book of Hebrews as well. Moreover, The Book of Acts is largely the history of the early church, mostly about Paul’s international church-planting journeys.
Just as Moses’ books present and elucidate The Lord’s basic laws and more detailed life principles for the Hebrews, during the 2nd age of our history, Paul’s letters do the equivalent for the church, during the 3rd age of our history. These are Heaven’s laws and principles which bona fide Christians (not fake Christians, folks who may be ‘Christianesque’ in their lifestyles) are to inculcate and practice, by faith. While it is our sincere profession of childlike faith/belief in the virgin birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus as Christ/Messiah, that triggers the born-again experience, and guarantees our name is written in The Lord’s Book of Life [Eternal] 4, it is the extent and manner of our conviction and commitment that:
(a) evidencees our faith to the on-looking world, as we mature in our walk with Jesus, and also
(b) guarantees our name will not be ‘blotted out’ of The Book of Life [Eternal] before we die. (The so-called ‘once saved, always saved’ doctrine is refuted throughout Scripture!)
Christian status (your question) is, therefore, ascertained by the growing closeness/intimacy of our walk with The Lord Jesus, empowered by His Spirit. Our walk is informed and energized by an ever deepening knowledge of, and faithful, demonstrated adherence to His Kingdom’s laws and principles. So there are clearly some provisos to retaining salvation. The notion, 'Once saved, always saved', is a bold-faced lie (of Satan and his devilish crew) many believers embrace.
In His wisdom, The Lord designed and created man as an eternal being, in His own personal, tripartite image, as spirit/heart, soul and body. 5 Adam’s sin ushered death into the world, and thus, all human bodies became mortal, subject to physical decay and death. Our spirit and soul, however, remain eternal and shall never die. The Lord promises each person (likely all who will have ever been conceived) will be resurrected as an immortal, tripartite being! 6
Each part of our being needs to be fed in an on-going, sustainable manner:
- Physical food nourishes our body, producing physical energy.
- ‘Soul-ish’ food (things we feed our mind, will, emotions, intellect and imagination) nourishes our soul.
- Spiritual food nourishes our spirit/heart, producing spiritual energy.
The entire Bible is uniquely designed to feed our spirit and soul. Acceptable, Godly faith is the spiritual energy it produces, and by it, we (not Jesus) are admonished to save/renew our soul. Thus, you might call The Bible, Christian Bread or Heaven’s Bread for Christians! 7
Conclusion
Our status as a bona fide Christian is only permanent for us who faithfully endure in our life-long, spiritual maturation process until the end of our lives. Again, the often heard concept, ‘once saved, always saved’, is thus clearly debunked in Hebrews 3:6, 6:11, in Revelation 2:26 and 3:5, 14-22, and is symbolized in ancient Israel’s many ‘yo-yo’ experiences with the so-called promised land.
Like I said, what a GREAT question! I trust this response adequately fleshes out the oft heard short answer, it’s by faith.
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1 See: God 101 – Who are God’s Elect? Part 1 and Part 2, What If? (Poem on Anti-Semitism) and Human’s DNA Hacked (Poem). The predicted blessing would be The Lord’s sacrificial death via crucifixion, as payment for every sin every human will have ever committed, provided that we receive/accept it by faith, and commit to live our lives according to His righteous requirements, again, by faith.
2 See: Is Jesus God? (Part 3). Heavenly revelations Paul received were much broader, deeper and more impactful on God’s long-term redemption plan for mankind than revelations Moses received. Paul was used to expand and then build upon the new foundation Christ had laid, namely the spiritual foundation for His Church, worldwide. This is entirely consistent with the tactical pattern The Lord has used, and continues to use, in downloading His unlimited knowledge, wisdom and understanding to humanity, since Adam! He revealed that tactic in Isaiah 28: 10 & 13.
3 See: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. Wouldn’t we all love to know what Paul was prohibited to write about re. his visionary visit to Heaven!
4 See: Acts 16:31 and the seven references (the spiritually 'perfect number') to ‘The Book of Life’ in The Book of Revelation. See also: ‘Christianesque’ (Poem).
5 Do you know your spirit and soul are uniquely different and they can be ‘divided’ (separated)? I call them our ‘immortal twins’, because The Bible infers they have similar functionalities. We cannot distinguish them. Hebrews 4:12-3 attests only The Word of God can separate them:
For The Word of God (The Bible) is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the spirit/heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
6 This will be accomplished in the set of several firsts, and the last resurrections. See: 1 Corinthians 15:42, Revelation 20:5-6, and also The Goshen Effect, Grand Finalé (Poem, Part 5) and Graves Re-purposed (Poem). See also: For You, Which Resurrection? (Poem).
7 See: Romans 12:2 and 1 Peter 2:2. See also: Tale of Two Saviors
