Psalm 119:160 The sum of your word is truth,
and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
Christians believe in a PROCESS of salvation (if you will), not a THING that saves, for many things, combined properly are what save us.
The process is, generally, hearing His Word, the gospel message, receiving it (welcoming it), believing it, and obeying it. Belief alone, is and always has been insufficient to salvation (cf John 12:42 and James 2:19). Belief MUST be accompanied by obedience, or it cannot lead to faith (Heb 3:18f), which does save.
Incorporated in the process are the natural and requisite responses to the gospel message: conviction of sin, confession of [our] sin, repentance, calling on the name of the Lord, and submitting to baptism.
So it is hearing, receiving (welcoming), believing/conviction, confession, repentance, and baptism that - TOGETHER - "save."
Note that every one of those things are things WE DO or SUBMIT TO BEING DONE. They are however not "works." They are merely the proper RESPONSE to the truth of what HE HAS DONE, to WHO HE IS.
Salvation would not be possible were it not for His sacrifice on our behalf for our sins. Salvation doesn't exist apart from His death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation doesn't exist apart from His mercy and His grace - by which we are saved.
Things that save:
Endurance [to the end]:
Matthew 24:13 But the one
who endures to the end will be saved.
Mark 13:13 And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the
one who endures to the end will be saved.
Belief and Baptism:
Mark 16:16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Acts 16:30ff
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said,
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds;
and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
Entrance through Jesus:
John 10:9 I am the door.
If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Calling on the Name of the Lord:
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that
everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:13 For
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Convicted of [our] sin, Repentance, Baptism, Receive [the Word]:
Acts 2:37ff Now when they heard this,
they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
Brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them,
Repent, and each of you
be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying,
Be saved from this perverse generation! So then,
those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit
1 Peter 3:21
Baptism, which corresponds to this,
now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
Sanctification by The Spirit:
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be
saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewal of the Holy Spirit
The Message [Gospel], The Truth:
Acts 11:14 ...he will declare to you a
message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For
the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
I Cor 15:2ff Now I would remind you, brothers, of
the gospel I preached to you,
which you received, in which you stand,
and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to youunless you believed in vain.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and
belief in the truth.
The Grace of the Lord:
Acts 15:11 But we believe that
we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
Ephesians 2:8 For
by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
By His Death, and by His Life [Resurrection]:
Rom 5: 8ff "...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been
justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved by his life."
By His Mercy
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but
according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit
Confession and Belief:
Romans 10:9 ...
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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Romans 6:1ff What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
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