Great Bible Doctrines
Lesson No. 7: Man’s Part in Salvation

Date: June 19, 2002, Wednesday Evening Adult Bible Class
Speaker: John Phillis

We are continuing our study on the Great Bible Doctrines. Last time we looked at the doctrine of the Bible concerning the matter of God’s Grace and Atonement. We saw that according to Scripture, God has made complete and thorough provision for man’s salvation, that being through something that we call grace. A short definition is “God’s unmerited favor.” This is something that God gives freely to mankind, and mankind does not in any way merit God’s grace. This grace is implemented, or extended, as a part of God’s plan of salvation, which is accomplished with atonement. Atonement is the “covering over of sin,” the “reconciliation” between God and man, accomplished through the blood of Jesus Christ. In short, the price for sin was paid at Calvary and grace is God’s free gift.

But man has a part to play in salvation. Man’s salvation is conditional and it is made so by God Himself. It is not conditional because the “preacher said so,” nor is it conditional because the “church of Christ’s manual” says so. It is conditional because God Himself made it so. Therefore, because salvation is conditional, not everyone will be saved. Jesus Himself said, “Not everyone who says to me ’Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven” [Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the Will of My Father in heaven.”]. Rather, only those who do the commands and who meet the conditions will be saved. This goes back to man’s very nature.

What we’re going to be talking about tonight is something that every one of us here understands and accepts. But we are exceptions, rather than the rule, in this regard. First of all, we want to look at what the Bible has to say about this subject, and also consider the logic behind it, which is also a part of God’s Word.

I’ve heard the comment made from some people saying, “We can’t fully understand baptism.” “We can’t understand salvation.” I beg to differ with you! We can understand it! We can explain it because God has made that possible through His Word.

So this goes back to the very nature of man. Man is a creation of God, made in His image. The Bible tells us this in Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 and 27 [“Then God said, ’Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His Own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”]; Job 33, verse, 4 [“The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”]; Hebrews 2, verse 7 [“You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.”], and in a number of other Scriptures.

So man is created by God, in the image of God. He was created in God’s image as an intelligent, as a moral, as an emotional man, and as a free personality. Man was given the freedom of choice. Man was created in such a way by God that the Eternal Son of God could become man, and within the human life, He could reveal the Glory of God. Think about that! We are going to talk a little bit more about the problem of sin and the imperfections of man, but God’s creation of man was perfect. It was complete, such that His Own Son could come. He didn’t come as an “alien being.” He didn’t come as a member of the animal kingdom. He didn’t come as an angel. He came as a man. Just as we are human, Christ in every way was human.

And so God’s creation—what we are—is not imperfect, but, rather, we make bad choices because of our PHYSICAL NATURE.

God made us in His image, but we are not God. Man is not God—God is not man. Man is different from God. That’s stating the obvious, isn’t it? Man does not possess the divine attributes of God. When we talked about the Bible Doctrine concerning God, we talked about those divine attributes: His omnipotence and His omnipresence. Man does not have those attributes. God is a Spirit with divine attributes. Man has a dual nature—being both flesh, or physical, as well as having a spirit. Man has a physical, fleshly body which houses, or tabernacles, his spiritual being.

Paul says that, “The first man was of the earth, made of dust,” 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 47. Now here he was referring specifically to Adam, but also referring to mankind, in general, because the rest of verse 47 speaks about the divine nature, or spiritual nature of Christ [“The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.”]. Man was formed from “the dust of the ground,” Genesis, chapter 2, verse 7 [“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”]. And when the spirit that animates our body—that gives us life, that breath of life, if you will, that comes from God—when that is gone, then this physical body, this earthly tabernacle will return to the dust. It will go back to the ground from which it came, Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 20 [“All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.”]

The Bible teaches that man’s body itself is not evil. We’ve already alluded to this. The physical body is not evil, because God made it. God didn’t make something that was evil. He didn’t make something that was imperfect. As a matter of fact, not only was the Son of God able to come in this physical form because of the way it was created, but we are also directed in the Bible to use our bodies to God’s glory, 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 19 and 20 [“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”] and Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 4 [“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”].