For most of my life I have associated with various Evangelical churches. In all of them there has been an emphasis on being saved from hell, that is, the lake of fire. It is safe to say that the majority of the messages given in those churches revolved around that theme.
Being eternally saved is most definitely an important topic. However, with such an emphasis there is a tendency to see it even when it is not there. People who are bombarded with the need to be saved from hell often cannot see anything else in the Scriptures. They don’t realize that there are many other things the Bible addresses. Those other things are wonderful too.
An example of what I’m talking about is found in Titus 3:4-7. In these verses, Paul mentions our Savior, God’s mercy, that God saved us, the washing of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, that we were justified, that we are heirs, and that we have the hope of eternal life.
I’m pretty confident that if you asked Evangelicals what these verses are talking about, almost all would respond that Paul is talking about our salvation from hell. Jesus is our Savior who showed us mercy and saved us from the lake of fire. When He did, He gave us the Holy Spirit, which means we are heirs of God and have the hope of going to heaven now. Through conditioning in our churches, that’s all they can see.
I would like to suggest that there is more in these verses than meets the Evangelical eye. Yes, God did give us eternal life by His grace when we believed in Jesus Christ for it. Yes, it was the result of His love and mercy toward us. It had nothing to do with any “works of righteousness” that we did, either before or after we believed (v 5).
But Paul’s emphasis in these verses is on something else. In vv 1-3, Paul exhorts the Christians on the island of Crete to live godly lives and to be patient with those who do not. In v 8, he tells them to be diligent in doing good works. In other words, both before and after Paul discusses their salvation, he tells these believers to walk in obedience.
What is the connection? Because of our faith in Christ, we have eternal life that can never be lost. But that marvelous gift comes with other wonderful benefits. The Lord has also saved us from the power of sin. We no longer have to serve it. We can walk in obedience. Our new birth—our regeneration—is the means by which we can experience a “washing” of our former sins. We can experience a renewing of our minds through the Spirit who indwells us (Rom 12:1-2). We don’t have to live as we formerly did.
If we live such a life, we will be heirs with Christ in the world to come (Rom 8:17). That life looks forward to the day when the eternal life we already have in Christ will be experienced with glorified bodies. That life will be experienced more abundantly in His kingdom. It will be greatly rewarded.
Our salvation from hell is the greatest gift imaginable. But as great as it is, it is even greater than most Evangelicals understand. God has given us so much more. Titus 3:4-7 is a teaching moment for us. We should search the Scriptures without our traditional blinders on. We will find that our Savior is even more wonderful than we thought.
