What do people mean when they say that they are saved (that is, when they are speaking in the context of Christianity and the Bible)?  

I have met people who by their own admission had no idea what they meant in claiming that they are saved.  

Sometimes people who say that they are saved mean that they are justified through Christ and thus in God’s grace at the present moment.  Whether they are actually so or not is another thing, but there is precedent in the Bible for referring to those who actually are in God’s grace in the present as being saved.

Yet often those who claim to be saved think that they are guaranteed to ultimately be saved in the end because of the faith in Christ which they believe themselves to have.  

The belief of possessing a guaranteed ultimate salvation is very frequently what people mean when they use the word “saved.”  This is why the word “saved” is one of the most misused Bible words.

2 Peter 1:4 speaks of those with authentic faith in Christ as “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  That is a non-negotiable goal as well as an effect of authentic faith in Christ.  That is a present salvation which can be had now.  It also must be obtained in this life for those who would ultimately be saved in the end.  

Yet you just have to keep reading 2 Peter to see there is much more to faith in Christ in terms of being rescued from the deep consequences of the fall.  In the very next verse (2 Peter 1:5), those who have obtained genuine faith in Christ are told to add to their faith with all diligence.  They are told this because they had already turned to Christ and  utterly disregarded, renounced, and forsaken sin to the fullest possible extent- not because they had not done so.

Escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust is not the end of the Christian life; it is the very beginning.  It is the entrance into the school of Christ where the narrow gate has been passed through and the narrow way to life in Jesus Christ has been entered.  Those who have gone through the narrow gate and entered the narrow way have entered the school of authentic Christian discipleship where all diligence is required going forward.  

The following Scripture is speaking of those who, in the manner just spoken of, came to the point of being Christ’s disciples which were ready to receive His instruction to learn to observe whatever His Word commands.

Acts 2:47b: “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

In the Book of 2 Peter, Peter would eventually warn the presently saved people who had already escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust of their very real danger of being ensnared in corruption again so that they would not ultimately be saved in the end.  Peter would make it clear to the Christians in God’s grace on Christ’s narrow way that they still had to endure in that way until the end in order to be saved in the end.  

Jude would essentially devote his epistle to the same theme.  2 Peter and Jude are are two very closely related letters.  And like Peter, Jude very much connected his warnings with those who taught unconditional eternal security while disconnecting faith in Christ and salvation in Him from a person’s actual deeds (since a person’s deeds demonstrate their faith or unbelief in Christ).

Jude 1:5 says: “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”

This statement is given in the context of Jude’s warning which we cover so often in these studies about ungodly men who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and deny “the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (see Jude verse 4).

Remember also here what Jesus said in the Gospels to His disciples in Matthew 24:9-13: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.  And because iniquity (lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

The abounding persecution and betrayal, the many false teachers, and the abounding lawlessness in the world have an effect of drawing people on the narrow way to depart from that way.  No one is going to be saved except by enduring on the right way; the narrow way of Christ which leads to life.  Enduring in any other way isn’t going to help one in the end on Judgment Day anyways.  It’s obvious then what Jesus was talking about here.

Along the very same lines, the things which Peter would go on to write in 2 Peter chapters 2 and 3 are practically one continual warning to the Christians that their ultimate salvation in Christ is not guaranteed.  They rather need to be steadfast in doing right before God and abstaining from sin while not heeding those who deny the necessity of that.  

The following quotes are samples from these chapters to show how delusional the concept of any mortal person on earth already being guaranteed ultimate salvation in the end is (as well as how delusional the corresponding doctrine of unconditional eternal security or once saved always saved is).  

2 Peter 2:1: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”

Swift destruction= Sudden when it hits; not that it will necessarily come swiftly by man’s estimation in terms of really soon.

And where does this leave those who blatantly deny Lordship salvation, those who say that sinning can’t affect a Christian’s salvation, and those who just blatantly say we don’t need to actually do what the Bible commands us in order to be saved?  Our lives must demonstrate that we’ve embraced the entire package of Christian doctrine and prescribed living; that we are in line with Jesus Christ’s Lordship.

In exposing the most subtle false teachers who could creep into a faithful Christian assembly, and be very hard to spot even for the faithful, Peter is also exposing those who are (or should be) obvious.

2 Peter 2:17-22: “These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”

They allure true Christians who have already escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  They allure them through the allowance for sin in their doctrine and/or through their subtle sensuality in their preaching and conduct which practically reconciles Christianity with living after the flesh to those who are under their influence.  Those who give into this allurement return to corruption.  They can end up hardened in this state with a spiritual delusion and false security as they live after the flesh which is a worse spiritual state than they were in before they had been converted to Jesus Christ.

The word for “knowledge” here is epignosis in Greek; and each time the word “known” appears here it is epiginosko in Greek.  These Greek words are both a reference to experiential, intimate knowledge.  All people have a knowledge of God (whether they admit or not).  But this is something deeper, and it is used in regards to knowing God in the sense of fellowship.   

Peter is talking then about true Christians being led astray into a worse spiritual state than those who never knew Christ at all are typically in.  If those who have been so led were still in God’s grace and heirs of salvation anyways, Peter would not say what he said here.  These have fallen from the grace of God.  

In a true conversion to Jesus Christ, people indeed stop acting like dogs and pigs in a spiritual sense.  Yet when people who were truly converted revert to living after the flesh, the illustrations which Peter gives here are appropriate.  To see them otherwise would require twisting and nullifying the rest of the book, making the one who does this the very type of teacher or preacher whom Peter is warning us to beware of and not give heed to.

2 Peter 3:10-14: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation (conduct) and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

With the term “hasting unto” here, think of someone whose business could be visited by a just, impartial no-nonsense auditor at any time.  Think of the manager of the business doing all in his power to make sure he is operating according to the law and meeting all of the expectations the auditor would have so they would be able to show the auditor around without shame whenever they came and be able to explain to them with confidence why everything is running like it is.  

2 Peter 3:15-18: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest (or, twist), as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To him be glory both now and for ever.  Amen.”

If you’re interpreting anything the Apostle Paul wrote, or anything else in the Bible contrary to these things which Peter is writing, you missed something.  Peter is still speaking to “you” (that is, authentically born-again Christians).  Peter’s words here again emphasize that it is possible for true Christians to be led away from Jesus Christ to ultimately be condemned with the wicked.  

A crucial lesson here is never see yourself as beyond the need to seek the grace of God in the present to be consistent with, and fitting for, the new heavens and new earth where righteousness will prevail and dwell (the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ)- since those not consistent with and fitting for that kingdom will not enter there.

The common misunderstandings of salvation and the common misuse of the word “saved” militate against this crucial lesson.

Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com

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