The Perfect Plan of Salvation
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) At the end of this unimaginable six day creation event, Genesis 1:31 says that God saw everything that was made and “indeed it was very good”. Imagine experiencing the glory of the earth in this state! The Bible implies that things would have continued this way had it not been for sin. The power of sin is often underestimated, but it is sin that separated man from God, and it is sin that brought death into the world. It is sin that caused God to be sorry that he created man and to destroy them with a global flood.
Mankind sinned and, as a result, deserves the punishment of death. God’s love and grace, however, are beyond comparison in that He put in motion a plan to overcome the separation and death caused by sin. Because justice demands punishment for wrongdoing and God is holy, His plan could not simply be to overlook our sin. The only way He could justify us again was to send His Son, Jesus, to take on the punishment in our place.
Salvation has always required a payment in the form of righteousness. But God offers us salvation freely. This doesn’t mean that righteousness is not required of us as payment but that He has paid it for us with the righteousness of His son. Some people misinterpret this idea to mean that there is nothing that a person must do in order to be saved, but that’s just not what the Bible teaches.
Consider an invitation to an event. If the event requires an entry fee, we understand that it is not free since it requires payment to attend. But suppose someone pays your entry fee for you, yet there is a dress code for the event. In our eyes, the event is still free to us in that we did not have to make a payment, but we must comply with the dress code if we want to go. The free gift of salvation is similar. The payment for salvation has been made by the blood of Christ, but God still requires something on our part. When we fulfill those requirements, we do not consider that obedience to be a payment toward salvation but rather the “dress code,” so to speak.
This idea of God requiring something of mankind in order to be a recipient of His gracious gifts is found throughout Scripture. In order for the Israelites to be included in the covenant made to Abraham, Genesis 17:14 tells us that God required the males to be circumcised. Any male that was not circumcised was “cut off.” An Israelite that submitted to circumcision did not earn the promises made to Abraham; circumcision was merely the “dress code” of the event.
Even though the price for salvation has already been paid through Jesus, many people unwisely choose sin and its temporary pleasures over the free gift of salvation. Nevertheless, God continues to extend the invitation to all of mankind to enter into a covenant with Him, where the reward is eternal life with Him in heaven. All that is required to attend this marvelous event is that we abide by the “dress code,” commonly referred to as “the plan of salvation.”
The phrase "plan of salvation" cannot be found in the Bible and thus there is no inherent importance in those specific words. There is importance, however, in what those words represent: the culmination of actions that God has given us to take in order that we might enter into salvation. And while those exact words may not be found in the Bible, the individual steps are clearly stated in the New Testament.
Because God is perfect, it should be no surprise that His plan for salvation is also perfect. It is perfect in scope, offering salvation to all people throughout all of history—no one is excluded. It is perfect in timing, in that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4). And it is perfect in design. Each part of the plan has a purpose that complements the others in perfect logical harmony. Looking at each step individually, it is easy to see the functional purpose that God intended, with each one working together with the rest.
Step 1: Hear
The Bible describes the gospel as "the power of God for salvation" in Romans 1:16. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, centered on His death, burial, and resurrection. It is the only means by which people can be saved. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith is produced only by means of the gospel (Romans 10:17).
In September 2024, Pope Francis said, “All religions are paths to reach God,” but this simply is not true. We know this because no other religions produce faith, as they do not teach the true gospel. Hearing the gospel is the logical first step in the plan of salvation since it produces faith. Therefore, without hearing the gospel, one does not have faith. The gospel message includes the actions one must take in order to obey it. We see this clearly in the example of Philip teaching the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:35-36.
In Acts 8:35, we are told that Phillip “preached Jesus to him”. In verse 36, immediately following the preaching, the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” It is obvious that when Phillip preached Jesus to him, that the message obviously included an answer to the question “What must I do to be saved?”
Step 2: Believe
After hearing the gospel, the next step is to believe it. Jesus emphasized this in John 8:24 when He said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” This kind of belief is much more than simply agreeing that Jesus is the Son of God. James 2:19 explains that mere mental acknowledgment of this is the same kind of belief that demons have. The difference between the belief that they have and the belief God desires from us is obedience. The rest of James 2 emphasizes the necessity of works (i.e., actions of obedience) to demonstrate belief. When we have a belief in God so strong that we are determined to act in accordance with it, it is called faith. Faith that does not include action is 'dead,' according to James 2:26, and does not lead to salvation.
Belief is essential to the plan of salvation, as each subsequent step builds upon it. For why would anyone complete any of the remaining steps without believing in God and His word first? Without genuine belief, the other steps would lack depth and might be carried out with misguided or insincere motivations. For example:
Confessing Christ without genuine belief is a lie because this belief is what one confesses.
Repenting without belief is directionless, as repentance involves godly sorrow and turning from worldly ways toward God. Without belief, from what and toward what would one turn? Turning in the right direction without belief in God makes one a good person by worldly standards, but not one cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Being baptized without belief is meaningless; without a connection to Christ, it is merely getting wet.
Step 3: Confess
Confession in the context of the plan of salvation is often misunderstood. While confessing one's sins to God and to fellow Christians is a biblical concept (James 5:16; 1 John 1:9), it differs from the confession mentioned in Romans 10:9-10 that leads to salvation.This type of confession, referred to as “the good confession” in 1 Timothy 6:12, is the foundation upon which Jesus says His church is built. Consider the conversation between Jesus and His disciples recorded in Matthew 16:15-18:
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
As demonstrated by Peter, this confession is simply the acknowledgment that Jesus is the Son of God. It involves affirming His death and resurrection and recognizing that His sacrifice provides salvation.It also includes declaring one's decision to turn from a worldly path and to follow the way that leads to life, committing to live faithfully for Jesus. It is a confession that Jesus is Lord of all.
It is no coincidence that confession is meant to be made publicly, as this is central to its purpose. A public confession offers accountability for the new believer to uphold repentance, provides a chance to let their light shine before others, and sets an example for future converts. Without this open declaration, belief, repentance, and baptism might just as well all take place in secrecy. But remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32-33:
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
Step 4: Repent
Repentance is the next crucial step in the plan of salvation and its purpose cannot be emphasized enough. Some people view repentance as merely sincere remorse or regret for past wrongdoings, but it’s much more than that. It can accurately be described as godly sorrow that leads one to turn away from a life of sin and toward a life of godliness. The eternal consequences of sin are what God is so graciously saving us from; therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we try to leave our life of sin behind when we become Christians.
Some people think repentance is something God just does to you after you’re saved, without any effort on your part. But that view of repentance is not right either. Acts 17:30 shows us that God ‘commands all men everywhere to repent,’ meaning He expects each of us to take this step ourselves. Repentance is a personal responsibility God calls every person to take on—it’s not something He does for us or to us. Think about Paul’s words in Acts 26:20:
“But [I] declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”
The fact that man is responsible for making this change does not diminish the role of God or the Holy Spirit in repentance. John 16:8 tells us that the Holy Spirit came to “convict the world of sin”. Without the Holy Spirit providing God’s Word to the writers of the Bible in the first century, the world would not know about the “works befitting repentance” and would not have the conviction to complete them.
What if repentance weren’t part of the plan of salvation? Would belief and confession hold the same meaning? I don’t believe so. If forgiveness only required belief and confession, a person could simply return to their old way of life after confessing. But God intentionally included repentance in the plan because it calls each person to count the cost of following Christ before being honored with the name Christian. Repentance is the promise to live out a confession of Christ as Lord, before others and before God. Jesus calls His followers to be the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16), and by including repentance in salvation, God gives new believers an immediate opportunity to live this out!
Step 5: Be baptized
Baptism is the last step in the plan of salvation. The term “baptism”, when used in the context of salvation, always refers to water baptism. It also always refers to immersion, never sprinkling or pouring. While the definition of baptism as immersion in water is contested by some, the main disagreement is that many people in Christendom do not recognize the connection between baptism and salvation. Instead, many of them adhere to the “faith only” approach which says that one must simply have faith (belief in Jesus) alone to be saved.
Faith alone teaches that baptism is merely a ‘public profession of faith,’ an act that believers perform after being saved to show others their identification with Christ. But this is not what the Bible teaches about baptism. Take for example Acts 2:38:
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter delivered these words to Jewish people who were “pricked in the heart” (i.e., felt guilty, convicted) because they were responsible for crucifying the Son of God as prophesied throughout the Old Testament. Just prior to this, the people asked “What shall we do?” In order to be forgiven for their sins and enter into a relationship with the Messiah that they did not recognize while he was preaching on earth, they were told to repent and be baptized. Later in verses 41-47, we read that about 3,000 people obeyed Peter’s words and were added to the church that day.
Romans 6 further clarifies the purpose of baptism. As stated earlier, sin is what separates us from God and it is sin from which we must turn. Baptism marks the moment in time at which this happened for a Christian. It is the moment when one belongs to Christ and no longer belongs to sin. Notice Paul’s explanation in Romans 6:2-7:
Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.
The most significant day in a Christian’s life is the day of his salvation. It is the day that he can begin to 'walk in newness of life,' freed from the bondage of sin. If belief were the only requirement for salvation, pinpointing the exact moment of salvation would be difficult. For some, the process of belief takes a long time—was salvation granted at the start of belief, or only once a certain level of faith had accumulated? How could one ever be certain they are saved? This uncertainty likely led to the adoption of 'the sinner’s prayer' by the faith-only doctrine, despite its lack of biblical support, as it offered a clearer point of salvation. However, the Bible teaches that baptism is the moment we are placed 'into Christ' (Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12), giving believers the true clear marker of salvation and assurance. God, in His wisdom, included baptism as the moment we can confidently know we are saved.
Conclusion - Living Faithfully
Each step mentioned above works in conjunction with the others to fulfill a necessary purpose in the plan of salvation. Notice how steps are often combined throughout the New Testament demonstrating that they are all required:
Belief and baptism (Mark 16:16)
Repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38)
Belief and confession (Romans 10:9-10)
Therefore, to exclude any one step would be to exclude all others.
The plan of salvation is perfectly designed by God to place one into a relationship with Him. Living faithfully is about maintaining that relationship with God that began at baptism. It is our ongoing commitment to follow Jesus by keeping His commandments. While no amount of faithful living can earn salvation, it is essential for continuing in the path God has set for us. This is demonstrated to us in 1 John 1:7.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Living faithfully is not technically included in the steps one must take in order to become saved. It is what should occur after one is saved. By doing so, we are continuously cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and we remain saved. God wants us to love Him and has told us that we demonstrate this love by keeping His commandments (1 John 5:3). God’s plan of salvation is perfectly designed to set the new Christian on this path. Each step works in conjunction with the others to give the Christian assurance of the salvation which results in eternal life with God in heaven.
—Justin Weekley