Salvation is two parts

[jugghead]

Salvation has two very separate and distinct parts.

     To undersatnd "a" truth is not the same as understanding "the" truth. In that statement, the word "the" refers to the whole, the word "a" refers to a part. This same principle applies to what we understand as "salvation", there is a difference to "a" salvation and "the" salvation.

     What I am trying to get at is this, salvation is divided into two parts, "a" salvation from the penalty of sin, which we are to understand as death (which was accomplished at the cross), for death was the penalty that results from sin. Then we have "a" salvation from sin, the salvation from the ability to commit sins. It is this concept that has not yet been separated and understood in the minds of men. They look upon salvation as "one" thing. But being saved from the penalty of sin; being saved from death is not the same as being saved from that which causes death. We all, and I mean "ALL" still have the ability to sin and we "all" continue to sin and that is because we still remain in our sinful condition, that being we stiill remain in our flesh; our physical bodies.

     If we still consider salvation as "one" thing we remain in our ignorance of what we have received from God and what we have yet to receive from God. God saved us from the penalty of sin (death) but not yet from sin itself (that which causes death). Considering the two as one is the same as saying, a criminal committed a crime (sin) and because of that he was sentenced and sent to prison (the penalty for sin; death). The "crime" being the sin and being sent to prison the penalty for sin (death). Can we view the crime and the imprisonment of the criminal as one thing? No, we cannot; they are two very separate and distinct things. It is also like saying that "cause" and "effect" are one thing which we know they are not, the cause of something (something someone does) is not the same as the effect of something (the result of something). Sin is the cause, prison is the effect; the result.

     The cross signifies our salvation from the penalty of sin (death) but we follow Christ; in His footsteps and in His ways in order to be saved from sin itself. Being saved from sin is a process; the process of becoming like Christ. It is a process that takes time. But, our "understanding" of being saved from the penalty of sin is also a process, and that is to understand that we have been saved from the penalty of sin because God loves us. Love saved us from death and love will also save us from sin itself.

     I cannot emphasize enough the importance of understanding the separation of the two, the penalty of sin and sin itself. For if we continue to view them as "one" salvation, our finite minds will believe the lie we tell ourselves in that we have been saved from sin when we know for a fact that we all continue to sin. Our own finite minds also lie to our own spirit in saying that if we sin less than another, we are better than another, which, by God's standards, is not true. There are none righteous, no not one (simply because we still continue to sin).

     Also, if we tell ourselves (lie to ourselves) in saying that we have been saved from sin, we will take that a step farther in our minds in telling ourselves, we are sinless. But just because we sin less, DOES NOT, in no way mean we are sinless. Has our own ignorance made us arrogant? Have we taken what God has joined together, the word "sinless" and separated it into two words "sin less"? Have we taken the definition of "sin less" as meaning "we have been saved from sin"? If so, we remain in our ignorance.

By saving us from sin we are also saved from our own ignorance, take care of correcting the ignorance the sin is revealed and therefore can be dealt with.