THE HOUSE OF OUR SALVATION

“Salvation”, “getting saved”, “being saved” and “born again” are all key descriptive terms that believers use to describe what has happened to them regarding their relationship with the God of creation.  What does salvation mean to you?  How do you define what happened?  Is it really as simple as John 3:16 describes it, or is there more to it than what this one well known verse declares?  Does it make any difference what we believe about it or how we understand its components?  What is our degree of accountability in our salvation versus our accountability for what we do with our salvation?  How are all of the several Biblical terms, that describe the various aspects of our salvation, related to each other?  Can we understand how God brings these aspects all together or it is just a matter of faith only, to the exclusion of any need for a deeper understanding?

This book is written to focus on these questions and inspire each reader contemplate the depth and beauty of the miraculous gift of salvation. Salvation is miraculous with regards to who receives it, to how it is accomplished and to what is done with it by each recipient.  This construction analogy is presented to help give the reader a clearer picture of what God has accomplished when He saves anyone from their sin.

For those who are author credential checkers, you may find this short description somewhat unusual.  Here’s why.  Readers of a book such as this, about a theological topic, will most always check the author’s credentials and, in so doing, will usually make a pre-judgment about what they anticipate the author’s bias will be on the book’s subject matter.  Also, it is common for authors, who expound in the realm of theology, to be engaged professionally in some way to the field, as a pastor or professor, and therefore to have a resume list of theological degrees and positions held to show their readers.  I have none of these to offer you, but I think that this fact will serve a beneficial purpose.  That purpose is the avoidance of any pre-judging or pre-bias formation on your part, prior to reading this book.  It is my hope that, based on what I do tell you about myself, that you decide the merits of this book based on it’s content alone.  Everyone has a bias and my mine will emerge from what I write. Let the degree to which you agree or disagree with this construction analogy, and the conclusions that are drawn, come from what you read. 

What I will tell you about myself is that, I have been a born again believer for 26 years and in that time I listened to and have sat under many teachers of the Word.  Some of these have been very sound in their theology, while others have been ......well, less than sound.  Of course anyone using the term “sound” in this context understands that it is a relevant usage.  Your definition of this term may likely be different from mine.  I am not a pastor or a seminary graduate. I have college degrees, but not in theology.  I have been a church elder for about 13 years.  God has given me a particular interest in the doctrine of salvation and how varied the understanding of it is within Christ‘s church.  In the fall of 2001, I felt led of the Holy Spirit to sit down and, drawing upon my vocational background in construction, to try and create the salvation building analogy that follows.  I am a first time author, so forgive any of my writing form that you may find distracting.

While I tried to rely upon God’s leading throughout the process, I know full well about my own fallibility.  This work is not exempt from it.  I have tried to support every step of this analogy with Scripture and avoid personal preferences in my conclusions.  It says in 2 Peter 1: 20-21, that the initial prophecy of scripture is not a matter of private interpretation, but was spoken by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit.  But, when it comes to the study of the completed Word of God, every believer has his or her own theology.  The accuracy of each person’s theology is the product of their personal degree of belief in the inerrancy of God’s Word and their reliance upon the leading of the Holy Spirit to guide them into truth.  My point is that the writing of the Bible was inerrant, but since it’s completion, the study and understanding of it, by others, is, in a real sense, a matter of personal interpretation.  Every believer’s growth in understanding the many messages within the Bible and of any teaching about it, depends on their reading and hearing with a “Berean” attitude of “searching the Scriptures to see if these things (what they read and hear) are so”.  This principle certainly applies to this book.

For the reasons above, I have not used my own name as the author of this book because I desire that your focus will be on any merit the book may have and not on me.  The author’s name that I have chosen to use tells you all you need to know about me.  If you desire to comment positively or negatively about this book, you can do so through the publisher.  Whether you agree or disagree with what I write, it is my hope that your thinking about your own salvation will be spurred and that your appreciation of it will be enhanced.  To God be the glory.

Sincerely, In Christ,

Justas Iam