THE THREE TENSES OF
SALVATION
T.P. Simmons
Salvation is a very broad term. C. 1. Scofield, in his comment on
Rom. 1:16, says very aptly: "The Hebrew and Greek words
for salvation imply the ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing,
and soundness. Salvation is the great inclusive word of the Gospel, gathering
into itself all the redemptive acts and processes: as justification,
redemption, grace, propitiation, imputation, forgiveness, sanctification, and
glorification."
Salvation, therefore, in its broad sense,
has to do with both the soul and the body, with the present life as well as
with future life. It has reference, not only to the remission of sin's penalty
an d the removal of its guilt, but also to the conquering of the power of sin
and to the final removal of the presence of sin from the body. It is only by
recognizing this that one can grasp the full sweep of the Bible doctrine of
salvation. And it is only by being able to classify each
passage dealing with salvation on the basis of the foregoing facts that one can
avoid the confusion that exists in the mind of the average believer. We can
best accomplish this end by noting that salvation is spoken of in three tenses,
and in carefully considering each tense. All three tenses are roughly summed up
in 2 Cor. 1:10: "Who delivered us (past tense) from so great a death, and
doth deliver (present tense): in whom we trust that he will (future tense) yet deliver us."
I. THE PAST TENSE OF SALVATION
We have been saved from the PENALTY of sin.
Note the following passages:
"Thy faith hath saved thee" (Luke 7:50). "By grace
have ye been saved through faith" (Eph. 2:8) ...... who saved us and
called us with a holy calling" (2 Tim. 1:9)."...according to his mercy he saved us" (Titus 3:5). All of these passages, and
many more like them, speak of salvation as a work finished in the past. This
tense of salvation is coincident with the believer's past sanctification, as
considered in the former chapter. It has to do (1) with the soul; (2) with the
remission of sin's penalty, the removal of guilt, and even the removal of sin's
presence from the soul.
In this sense the salvation of the believer is complete. As we
have said of justification, so we may say of this tense of salvation: it is an
act, and not a process. It occurs and is complete the moment the individual
believes. It admits of no degrees nor stages.
It is under this tense of salvation that
we are to classify the passages that speak of the believer as possessing
eternal life now. See John 5:24; John 6:47; 17:2, 3; 1 John 3:13; 5:11, 13.
This means simply, as expressed in John 5:24, that the believer has passed from
under all danger of condemnation and the power of the second death.
II. THE PRESENT TENSE OF
SALVATION
We are being saved from the POWER of sin.
"The word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us who are saved (marg., are being saved) it is the
power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18).
The Greek participle in the above passage is in the present tense,
and denotes "those being saved, the act . . . being in progress, not
completed' (E. P. Gould).
It is with reference to the present tense
of salvation that Phil. 2:12 speaks when it says: "Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling." The meaning of this passage is that
the Philippian believers were to make effective in their lives the new life that
God had implanted in their hearts.
There are other passages in which
salvation is not mentioned, which, nevertheless, refer to the present process
of salvation; such as Rom. 6:14; Gal. 2:19,20; 2 Cor. 3:18.
In the present tense of salvation believers are being saved
through the work of the indwelling Spirit from the power of sin to hinder the
new life. It is thus equivalent to progressive sanctification.
It has to do not with the soul, nor with the body, but with the life.
We shall be saved from the PRESENCE of sin.
In the following passages salvation is spoken of as something yet
future. Rom. 5:9, 10; 8:24; 13:11; 1 Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1:13,
14; 1 Thess. 5:8; Heb. 10:36; 1 Pet. 1.5; 1 John 3:2, 3.
Paul tells us in Rom. 8:23 what this future salvation is in the
main. It is "the redemption of our body," by which he means the
application of redemption to the believer's body. This will take place in the
resurrection of those who sleep in Christ (1 Cor. 15:52-56; 1 Thess. 4.16) and in the rapture of those who are alive at Christ's coming in the
air (1 Thess. 4:17). It is only then that the regenerated spirit will enter
into the full fruition of salvation. Thus we read that the spirit is to be
saved "in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Cor. 5:5). This tense of
salvation has to do mainly with the body and the presence of sin in the body.
It is under this head that we are to
classify all the passages that speak of eternal life as something the believer
will receive in the future. See Matt. 25:46; Mark 10:30; Titus 1:2; 3:7.
Thus we have the beautiful harmony that exists between all the
passages that touch on the subject of salvation. There is no conflict between
these passages, because they refer to different phases of
salvation. It is absurd and heretical for any man to take one set out of the
three, no matter which set he takes, and seek to deny or nullify one or the
other or both of the two remaining sets. The way of truth is to take all of
them rightly divided.
Let it be remarked in closing that salvation in all its tenses and
phases is of the Lord. Paul gives us God's method of work in
salvation from beginning to end in Phil 1:6 and 2:13. He begins the work of
salvation and He carries it on to its consummation. All along the line He works
in us "both to will and to do His good pleasure." Moreover it is all
of grace through faith. "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith" (Rom.
1:17).