We have emphasized that salvation comes from God as a free gift. He has taken the initiative; He has taken the risk. He has extended His mercy and forgiveness to us, and now He awaits our response. Will we take advantage of His good will toward us and return to Him, like the prodigal son?

The basic outline of how we say “yes” to God’s invitation goes like this:

1) first, we must hear the good news;

We saw in the quote from Ephesians 2:8-9 at the end of the preceding chapter that salvation is a free gift from God, received through faith. What is this faith through which we receive the grace of salvation? “Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1 NAB).

But is it enough for our whole being to cry out “Yes!” to the word of truth? Is it enough to say to ourselves (and to others), “This is what I believe”? Or is it our choices in life, how we act from day to day, which reveals our real “operating beliefs”? As we will see in more detail later when the Scriptures are allowed to speak for themselves, each of these aspects of faith is necessary. Sooner or later we must “believe in our hearts” (Romans 10:10), “confess with our lips” (Romans 10:10), and become “doers of the word, not hearers only” (James 1:22).

When Jesus began His preaching mission, He said, “Reform your lives and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:15 NAB). 1) Repent, that is, change the way we are living; 2) Believe what He says. Either one without the other is not enough. A true conversion to Jesus Christ involves both the inside and the outside of a person; both heart and hands must be given totally to the Lord. Heroic deeds without a change of heart (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-3) are as useless as faith that does not bear fruit in action (see James 2:17).

Furthermore, the inner change and the outer change reinforce each other:

To believe in Jesus and remain in His word, then, makes one a disciple. But a disciple is one who obeys His word, as we can see from the following quote: “‘Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple’” (Luke 14:27 NAB). So, acting on the word leads to a deeper faith, and a deeper faith leads to acting on the word more freely.

The Scriptures in the rest of this book have been put more or less in the order indicated above: first, those which deal with the beginning of salvation—hearing the word, believing it, receiving baptism; then those which have to do with living a new life in Christ—obeying God’s commands, following the lead of the Holy Spirit, praying, forgiving others; then those which have to do with growing and maturing in the love of Christ, putting on the character of Christ— dying to self, persevering over the long haul, growing in humility and love.

The dozens of Scriptures which follow build up a picture of the Christian life that is necessary for salvation. The idea is not to present a picture that is overwhelming (“oh, I could never do all that!”), but to present a picture that is complete.

Even though we have separated these Scriptures into many categories for ease of discussion, it is the whole picture we are aiming at. The Scriptures in all of the categories work together to tell one story—they are a unity. You will notice that many of the quotes overlap categories and could have been placed elsewhere. We could say these are the glue that binds the whole together.

A good way to take stock of our faith might be to see if any of these major areas are missing in our lives—perhaps a sign that our faith is lopsided or less than fully genuine. One or two little items missing are not alarming, but if a whole area is missing on a consistent basis, there may be good reason to take corrective action.

It is vitally important to realize that the context in which all of this takes place is a community context. No one of us is saved as an individual apart from the whole Christian family. We are all linked together as a very real body—the body of Christ. “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy” (1 Corinthians 12:26 NAB). This is more than empathy—we are one body!