What did people in the New Testament have to do to be “saved”? I was prompted to ask this question by this assertion in a comment in the discussion about the sinlessness of Jesus:
Many within the orthodox evangelical world go so far as to say that one can not deny Christ’s deity and experience the personal salvation that He offers.
What I have done here is simply look at occurrences of the words “save”, “saved” or “salvation” in the New Testament and highlight what appears to be required of people in order for them to be saved. It is a limited exercise. There will be passages that have a bearing on this question where the salvation terminology is not found—for example, passages that use different word groups, or which speak of people perishing or being destroyed because they have not done something. But I think it will give us a pretty clear idea of what people were expected to do or believe in response to the saving action of God—and more importantly, as I will suggest at the end, of the narrative contexts in which this theme emerged.
- The disciples were told that they would have to endure to the end of the tribulation that was coming upon Israel in order to be saved (Matt. 10:22; 24:13). Those who took up their own crosses and lost their lives for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of the good news of the kingdom of God would save their souls (Mk. 8:35).
- The sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet was “saved” by a “faith” that expressed itself as a concrete expression of love towards Jesus (Lk. 7:47-50). Zacchaeus was saved—restored to the family of Abraham—by his offer to restore what he had defrauded and give half of his goods to the poor (Lk. 19:8-9).
- Jews who believed the good news about the coming kingdom of God and its significance for Israel would be saved (Lk. 8:12). Anyone who believed the good news about the coming transformation of the status of God’s people in relation to the nations—that is, the good news of the kingdom of God—and was baptized, would be saved (Mk. 16:16), though this passage may not be part of Mark’s original Gospel.
- Only those Jews who sought to follow the narrow path leading to life would be saved (Lk. 13:23-24). For that reason, it would be difficult for the wealthy to be saved from the destruction that was coming upon Israel (Lk. 18:26-27).
- Those Jews and the “other sheep” who entered the renewed community of Israel through the door which is Jesus would be saved (Jn. 10:7-9, 16). Those who did not reject Jesus but received the words which he spoke on the Father’s authority would be saved and would enter the life of the age to come (Jn. 12:46-50).
- Those Jews who repented of their sins and called on the name of the Lord Jesus, who had been appointed ruler and judge by God (Acts 2:34-36), would be saved from the destruction that was coming upon the “crooked generation” of Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 2:21, 40; 3:23; 4:12). Diaspora Jews would be saved by believing the message that “God has brought to Israel a Saviour, Jesus” (Acts 13:23, 26).
- Gentiles were saved by believing the good news that Jesus had been “appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:14, 42).
- The Philippian jailer believed in the Lord Jesus and was saved, along with his household (Acts 16:30-31).
- Both Jews and Gentiles were saved by believing the good news that Jesus had been made Israel’s king “by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4, 16). Jews and Gentiles who believed that God raised Jesus from the dead and confessed that this Jesus was now Lord would be saved from the wrath of God which was about to come both upon Israel and upon the nations (Rom. 10:9, 13). Gentiles were saved by believing the good news about God’s Son—that he had been raised from the dead, made Lord, would come to judge and rule the nations, etc.—which was proclaimed to the pagan world (2 Thess. 2:13).
- People were saved by holding fast to the word preached to them, that Jesus died for the sins of God’s people and was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, embodying the restoration of God’s people (1 Cor. 15:1-5; cf. Hos. 6:1-2).
- Gentiles were saved—that is, incorporated into the restored people of God—not by works of the Law but “by faith”, as a response to the gift of God (Eph. 1:13; 2:8-9, 19-22).
- The Philippians were told to keep working out their own salvation, “holding fast to the word of life”, until the “day of Christ” (Phil. 2:12-16). Women would be “saved through childbearing” (1 Tim. 2:15). Timothy would save both himself and his audience by the consistency and integrity of his behaviour and teaching (1 Tim. 4:13-16).
- The troubled Jewish Christians addressed in the Letter to the Hebrews would be saved by drawing near to God through Jesus (Heb. 7:25). They would be saved by faithfully waiting for Jesus to appear again to deliver them (Heb. 9:28).
- People were saved by demonstrating the validity of their faith by means of good works (James 2:14).
- People were saved by the act of being baptized as an “appeal to God… through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”, who has been given authority over all powers (1 Pet. 3:21-22).
What can we learn from this? Basically that salvation in the New Testament is eschatological. People needed to be saved because God was about to judge first his own people and then the pagan nations. People were saved by believing that the death and resurrection of Jesus constituted a decisive moment in this narrative of eschatological transformation. His death was an atonement for the sins of the people of God, including the sins of those Gentiles who were to be incorporated into the “household of God”. Through his resurrection Jesus was given authority as Lord to rule over the renewed people of God and judge the nations (cf. Acts 17:31). Initial belief, however, was not enough. Salvation meant endurance through the coming crisis of political upheaval and persecution. Only those who persevered in the face of great discouragement and suffering would be saved and attain the life of the age to come.
So I can see that people were saved by believing that Jesus had been given authority to rule and judge—an authority that would otherwise have been reserved for God alone. I do not see that people were saved by believing in the deity of Christ, but perhaps that is to be found in one of the passages that has been overlooked. In any case, this does not mean that the “orthodox evangelical world” is wrong to insist that people must confess the deity of Christ in order to be saved. It’s just that this does not appear to have been a necessary criterion in the New Testament.