Riff's Christian Journal

Grace, salvation and born-again, many words being bandied about, what do they all mean anyway? Good question and one in which we will find out the answers but first, let us see some of the verses where these words are used in the Bible. To give us an idea of their meaning.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born-again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Titus 3:5 (KJV) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, (God) hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Now as to what these words mean here are their Biblical descriptions taken from the original text.

1. Grace – the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life.
2. Saved (salvation) – to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively)
3. Born-Again – to regenerate: – be born from above; again,

Being born-again is the action done by the grace of God by which He saves people, and this action all takes place in one moment of time as described in this verse from Titus 3: 5:

Titus_3:5 (KJV) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

We know from Ephesians 2:5, 8 that salvation is by God’s grace and In these verses, we see God saving people through the act of regeneration, of being born-again, by the renewing work of the Holy Spirit all done by the grace of God.

Simply put, when we are born-again by grace we are saved for all eternity. All this is the work of God, done by His will as He chooses and when He chooses upon whom He chooses. That is why it is said that, “Salvation is all of God.”

God must do all that is involved in anyone’s salvation for no one will ever be saved otherwise. Man, being dead in his sin will never, of his own will, ever choose to proclaim Jesus to be Lord and believe on Him.

Only when anyone is saved by the grace of God will they be able cry out to God for forgiveness and to confess Jesus as Lord and to believe on Him that He lived, He died for sins, and He rose again from the dead to give us eternal life.

Salvation occurs by being born-again by the will of God on account of what Jesus has done for they who will be saved. For in Jesus, there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved, nor is there any other way of salvation. We must be saved by God’s grace – the act of being born-again – and by grace alone or we will not at all ever be saved.