Topic: Salvation by Gordon L Slocum

First, salvation from Genesis to Revelation has always been by faith in what God revealed in the specific dispensation the people of that time lived. 

The first act of atonement occurred in the garden when God killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness. A second picture of salvation is seen when Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to God; Cain's was rejected, and Abel's was accepted. Cain did it his way, whereas Abel did it God's way. 

The record of Scripture, in light of the Bible as a whole regarding salvation, teaches us that Cain acted outside God's instruction. How do we arrive at this assessment? We know this because God expected Cain to follow the instructions He had explicitly given him. Faith, in this context, is trusting the precise information God gives and believing what He explains. Cain, however, refused to trust God and instead trusted in his own way.

 We are also reminded of the fact that faith has always been the way of salvation, according to the commentary on Hebrews Chapter 11. Dispensationalists have consistently held to this teaching. However, we have been falsely accused by those who hate, oppose, and disdain the truth of our position—sometimes in ignorance, and most of the time due to a refusal to accept the plain truth of our position, which has always been salvation by faith alone in the "content of the message" in the dispensation in which a believer lived, from Genesis to Revelation. 

The core of this false claim against Dispensationalism comes from Covenant Theologians and their followers and Amillennialists. Even though dispensationalists have repeatedly stated our case, these critics refuse to listen, refuse to accept the evidence, and continually seek to misrepresent what we believe and teach.

It is a fact that Biblicists, True Grace thinkers, and those who study the Bible in a normal, literal, grammatical, historical, and contextual way from Genesis to Revelation have never taught otherwise. Granted, within any theological group, an isolated figure may misrepresent the facts; such individuals exist in all camps of theology. That said, True Grace theology has always taught that salvation is by faith alone in God's grace.

 Defining Salvation according to True Grace—the Biblical Model—reveals that salvation is expressed in three tenses: the past, the present, and the future. 

When a person trusts in Christ today, it is because we now have the full revelation. However, past generations did not have this complete picture.  How do we know this?  Because the Bible tells us so.  Past generations before the finished work of Christ- death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father were absolutely, totally, completely kept SECRET.  No one knew nor could they have known that Jesus would die on the Cross.  Believers and unbelievers were kept blind to this truth, which is spoken of in the Old Testament.  The proof is in the pudding.  What does that mean?  Here is the history of that saying:  "The saying 'the proof is in the pudding' comes from the older, longer proverb 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating." First recorded in the early 1600s, the phrase originally used "proof" to mean a test, meaning you must test the food to know if it is good. (source: Google search.) 

Therefore, the proof is in the Bible.  To eat pudding to know if it is good, we must rightly read, study, and outline God's word to know what God says and means accurately. 

Here is the proof of the stated truth in Paul's words: 

Romans 16:25-26

25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; 

Ephesians 1:9
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
Ephesians 3:3
that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
Ephesians 3:4
By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
Ephesians 3:9
and to bring to light what is the administration (dispensation) of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
Ephesians 5:32
This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
Ephesians 6:19
and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,

 Colossians 1:26
that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,
Colossians 1:27
to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Why all these verses? They provide absolute proof that no one from Genesis to the time this secret (mystery) was revealed to Paul and the apostles—as stated clearly in the verses above—understood, or even could understand, the prophetic passages in the Old Testament and the Gospels. This understanding was impossible until after Christ had been crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. Furthermore, this truth remained hidden for a short period after the beginning of the Body of Christ, until it was finally revealed to Paul and the other apostles, as written in the passages demonstrated above.

 The importance of the above verses: When we say a person was saved based on what God revealed to them, we acknowledge that taking God at His word through faith did not inform them that Christ would die for their sins. This truth was forbidden and hidden, as stated above. Therefore, "faith alone in God’s grace alone" did not share the same phrasing as our modern expression, "faith alone in Christ alone." Because the message was hidden and unknowable, they couldn't use the same words we now invoke through faith for salvation. Instead, their faith was placed in whatever content was available during the era they lived, from Genesis up to the time the mystery was revealed.

  Every sacrifice pointed to a future reality they were not allowed to know or comprehend. This applies to the first animal sacrifice that covered Adam and Eve, Abel's offering, and all subsequent sacrifices extending through the giving of the law and Christ's earthly ministry. Let these verses sink in and resonate; if a person cannot accept this context, whatever they espouse will result in error and false information.

  Now that this has been addressed, we return to the tenses of salvation. It was necessary to establish this framework because it contextualizes the truth through God's Word, proving that salvation has always been by faith alone in the grace of God alone. Furthermore, before this information was fully accomplished in Christ and permitted to be understood, its content was hidden until it was ultimately revealed to Paul and the other apostles, as stated in the scriptures above.✔️

Concluding our review of Justification: 

The three tenses of salvation are past, present, and future, which correspond to justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification is a state in which a person is declared righteous and forgiven. It provides positional forgiveness, meaning the inherited sinful state of the believer is no longer held against them. Because our sinful nature is inherited from Adam, we are inherently in need of being justified by God. While no one chooses to be born, by virtue of being born, we inherit the sinful nature of Adam and Eve. We discover this nature through God's Word, and we also come to understand that faith in God's saving message throughout history—which was once hidden but eventually revealed—results in justification. Justification declares us to be in right standing before God. God is the one who justifies us so that we can spend eternity in heaven with Him. How great is God's love that He died for everyone; if we simply put our faith in His grace, using the information He has provided, we become justified. 

The second tense of salvation is sometimes called "progressive sanctification." Sanctification means to be set apart—to take something and assign it to its realm of separation from the world unto God. We all understand sanctification as taking something and setting it aside for a special time or use. For example, Christmas decorations are stored away until the next Christmas; they are set apart. Similarly, we are set apart unto the elements of sanctification as expressed in God's Word. 

We are to walk in sanctification by obeying the principles of the Christian faith as outlined in the Bible, such as manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. God has established a system whereby He rewards willing obedience in walking in the Spirit, which means we practice and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. 

If a Christmas tree or ornament is broken, it is no longer fit to be displayed for Christmas. Likewise, when we sin and do not confess it according to 1 John 1:9, we are out of fellowship. This leaves us "unsanctified"—not in the sense of being lost, but in the sense of being out of fellowship. Just as a broken object needs repair, our relationship with Christ needs restoration. This can only happen when we acknowledge our sins by naming them to God, who then restores us to fellowship. Just as our naturally born children can never be undone, so too is our relationship with God once we are saved. Just as children go out of fellowship with their parents and have that fellowship restored when behavior is corrected, we should understand our relationship with God the Father, who loves us and chastises us when we get out of line in the same way. 

The third tense of Salvation. This third tense is "glorification." Becoming glorified happens either when we die or at the "snatching away to meet the Lord in the air," which is the next prophetic event on God's calendar. There are no signs that point to this event, but rather clues, such as the prophecies that point to the Second Coming. Glorification is simply our departure from Earth and our entrance into God's presence, occurring either at death or at His appearing for the Body of Christ, as designated in this dispensation. 

Concluding the three tenses of Salvation: The first tense, justification, saves us from the penalty of sin. The second tense of salvation saves us from the power of sin when we live by the fruit of the Spirit. The third tense of salvation frees us from the presence of sin, ensuring we are never, ever again to be plagued by a sin nature.✔️