We want to conclude the study of salvation by looking at the three tenses of salvation. When we come to the New Testament, sometimes salvation is put out there in the text as if it was something that has already taken place, sometimes it is something happening presently, and sometimes it is in the future. I think it confuses people sometimes if they don’t realize that all three tenses are true. Let’s look at those and assign a word to each of those for our edification.
First, justification. Let’s begin that salvation is past in the sense that there is a moment in time when we have come to Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our past salvation, the moment of conversion, we can call justification. There is a point in time when we have been justified, we have been made right before a holy God, we have been declared righteous before Him and given the righteousness of God. That takes place at a moment in time. So, if you are a Christian, there was a moment in time when you were not saved and you were lost, then there was a moment in time when you were saved or justified. It is not important that you know that moment necessarily. I know a lot of people make a big deal about that moment and write it in the front of their Bibles. For some, if they don’t know the moment they were saved, they get pretty anxious about it. There is no necessity to do that. You might know the moment you came to Jesus Christ. That it is very crystal clear in your memory. Others, maybe not so much. It might have been over a period of time that these things became clear to you and somewhere in that process you committed your life to Jesus. It is not important that you know that moment. It is important that you know you have been saved and are justified. That is the past tense, you were saved in a moment of time.
Second, sanctification. We come to the present tense of salvation which we call sanctification. We are looking at 1 Corinthians 1:18 which says, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Notice the present tense there, “to us who are being saved.” Justification tells us we are already saved in a moment of time. That is done. Romans 5, if you read the context, is all about the fact that we cannot lose that salvation. Once we are saved, we are saved, and the Lord will not let us go. Here it says we are being saved, what does that mean? It means we are in a process of sanctification, progressively becoming more and more what we were saved to be. In that sense we are being saved. The Lord is working in our lives, He is moving through our lives and our hearts. He is changing us, and He is making us increasingly, ever so slowly, more and more like that Lord Jesus Christ. We call that sanctification, or progressive sanctification. This is the present tense of salvation.
Finally, we return to Romans 8:1, it says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That is past tense of salvation. Once we are in Christ Jesus, there is no longer any judgment or condemnation for those who are in Christ. That is past tense, so the book of Romans 8 begins with what took place in the past, but it ends with what will take place in the future. Romans 8:30 says, “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” . . .
