Southern Baptist

IV. Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus
Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In
its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.
There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new
creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of
sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and
commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

B. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners
who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and
favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to
God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout
the regenerate person's life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the
redeemed.

V. God's Purpose of Grace

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and
glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in
connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely
wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His
Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall
into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and
comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet
they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Report of the Baptist Faith and Message Study Committee to the Southern Baptist Convention Adopted, June 14th, 2000