APC-06 Salvation

Throughout these lessons, we’ve mentioned that the Apostles’ Creed began as a brief summary of the beliefs that early Christians confessed when they were baptized. In that context, it’s easy to imagine that the most emotional part of their confession, for many, would have been the articles of the creed expressing faith in their personal salvation. And isn’t that true for us, as well? We love our great God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And we value the church he’s built. But our greatest joy is the good news that salvation is for us. We rejoice in the assurance that God loves us, that he forgives our sins, and that he has a wonderful destiny for us, both now and in the world to come.

This is the sixth lesson in our series on The Apostles’ Creed, and we have entitled it, “Salvation.” In this lesson, we’ll look at the articles of faith in the Apostles’ Creed that affirm belief in the good news of forgiveness and eternal life. In Scripture, the word “salvation” is used in a variety of ways, indicating that there are many facets to our salvation in Christ. When modern Christians use the word “salvation,” we generally have in mind the reception of the blessings that Christ purchased by his atoning death, beginning with being born again and reconciled to God, continuing through life in a process of sanctification, and culminating in our ultimate glorification in the new heavens and earth. The Apostles’ Creed speaks of this aspect of salvation with these words:

And the life everlasting.

Now, these three ideas — forgiveness, resurrection and eternal life — do not exhaust the Bible’s description of our salvation. But they are the primary statements in the Apostles’ Creed that confess belief in particular aspects of what God does when he saves individual believers.

Our discussion of salvation in the Apostles’ Creed will address each of these dimensions of our salvation. First, we’ll talk about the forgiveness of sins. Second, we’ll explore the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. And third, we’ll consider the nature of everlasting life. Let’s begin with the familiar subject of the forgiveness of sins.