Some who profess faith in Christ make much of the forgiveness of sins and the avoiding of the penalty of sin (death, condemnation, and hell), but yet think nothing of being set free from slavery to sin, or of the work of god’s grace in sanctification, which are as much a part of our salvation by the grace of God in Christ as are justification and forgiveness.
Some even dare to preach such a warped view of salvation as this, as if holiness and sanctification were somehow optional for the believer! In effect, they preach only half a Savior, and half a Savior saves no one!
In his classic book, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, English Puritan, Walter Marshall (1628-1680), writes:
“What a strange kind of salvation do they desire, that care not for holiness? They would be saved, and yet be altogether dead in sin, aliens from the life of God, bereft of the image of God, deformed by the image of Satan, his slaves and vassals to their own filthy lusts, utterly unmeet for the enjoyment of God in glory. Such a salvation as that was never purchased by the blood of Christ; and those that seek it abuse the grace of God in Christ, and turn it into lasciviousness.” (p.100)
Of such people as this Marshall goes on to say:
“They would have their sins forgiven, not that they may walk with God in love in time to come, but that they may practice their enmity against him, without any fear of punishment. But let them not be deceived, God is not mocked.” (ibid)
Those who seek after such a “strange kind of salvation” as that show that they as yet have no true understanding of sin, of their desperate need for Christ, and certainly no right understanding of the grace and power of God in the gospel of His Son.
The true believer in Christ, however, the one who has been made alive with Christ and born of God, hates his sin and comes to Christ by faith in order to be freed and saved from it. The Lord Jesus came to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), not just from the penalty of our sins, and those who believe on Him for salvation receive and rest upon Him as He is offered in the gospel (i.e. as the Savior from sin – not just from its guilt, but from its corruption and enslavement as well)! As the old hymn writer puts it, “Hallelujah, what a Savior!”
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