Soteriology

Before the foundation of the world, God chose in Christ to save all who believe, according to His perfect foreknowledge, and predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Salvation is the free gift of God, received by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone, not earned by works or conveyed by sacraments.

Repentance is a change of mind that turns a sinner from sin and self to God, and faith is personal trust in Jesus Christ alone. Together they are one turning, and God calls every person to make it.

God declares the believing sinner righteous, forgiving all his sins and crediting to him the righteousness of Christ, on the ground of Christ's blood and through faith alone.

The new birth is the Holy Spirit's work of giving spiritual life to the one who believes, through the Word of God, making him a new creature in Christ.

God places everyone who believes in Jesus Christ into His family as a son or daughter and heir, with the Spirit of His Son in the heart, a work begun at salvation and completed when our bodies are redeemed.

The moment a sinner believes, the Holy Spirit places him into Christ, joining him to Christ's death, resurrection, righteousness, and life, in a union that can never be broken.

God sets every believer apart in Christ the moment he trusts Him, makes him more like Christ all his life by the Spirit through the Word, and finishes the work when he sees Christ face to face.

Everyone who is genuinely born again through faith in Christ is kept by the power of God and will never perish, because salvation rests on Christ's finished work and God's unbreakable promise.

Glorification is the last stage of salvation, when Christ raises or changes His people at His coming, gives them bodies like His glorious body, and frees them forever from sin and all its effects.