Millions of people believe they will be glorified because of something in the past although there is no evidence of present salvation in their lives. This is a gross miscalculation that will cost many people eternity. They will be shocked to learn Christ never knew them.

As we have seen for the past several posts, 1 Corinthians 1:18 lays the foundation for a biblical philosophy of ministry.

In this verse, Paul helps us understand how to do ministry so Christ, rather than man, is preeminent; that God’s Word, rather than the man’s wisdom, is proclaimed; that unity, rather than rivalry, is promoted; that humility, rather than pride, is pursued; and that faithfulness, rather than pragmatism, is prized.

To this end, Paul showed us the content of the preaching, which is the word of the cross—and all that flows from the gospel. Then, he explained the condition of the perishing, which was paramount in Paul’s ministry as he recognized he had no power to convert unbelievers or change their nature.

Finally, Paul reveals the confidence of the persevering. We are confident that, since God saved us when we were unconverted, God can save others who are still in that condition. That same gospel that seemed so irrelevant and foolish, suddenly became the most beautiful and significant message we ever heard.

When Paul describes believers in Christ, he uses an interesting phrase—those who are being saved, which is an extremely unusual description in the New Testament. We mostly find the New Testament references about salvation in the past, unlike Paul’s reference in the present as an ongoing process.

Why does Paul describe believers as being saved? To wrap our minds around this description and put it in its proper context, I want to look at three parts of God’s comprehensive work of salvation in Christians.

The first phase is God’s Completed Work of Salvation.

We usually think about salvation in terms of God’s completed work of salvation in our lives. There are three aspects to understand when we consider this phase of salvation and how the Bible addresses it.

First, we should think of regeneration, which is used once in Scripture in the context of personal salvation in Titus 3:5. Paul talks about a particular aspect of salvation that is complete, namely the washing of regeneration and the renewing by the Holy Spirit, which is the moment God gives us new life. In this context, the Spirit of God imparts new life to us in a once-for-all act when we were spiritually dead.

It’s important to note we are entirely passive in being born again. We do nothing to initiate or complete God’s work of regeneration in us.

Second is justification, which is often misunderstood. Justification includes two things: the forgiveness of our sins and the declaration that we are righteous. Roman Catholic theology, and some other aberrant views, consider justification as a process of being made righteous, but that’s not biblical. Justification is not a process, but a finished work. In Romans 5:1, Paul was clear that justification by faith is a past event and something that is divinely accomplished in our lives—not an ongoing process, but a declaration by God that has already been made.

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