GOD’S AMAZING SALVATION, VOL. II – A SUMMARY

SUMMARY OF JACK COTTRELL’S “COLLECTED WRITINGS” SERIES:
VOLUME TEN: GOD’S AMAZING SALVATION, VOL. II, by Jack Cottrell

INTRODUCTION

As I explained when introducing the previous volume, I have enough material on the subject of salvation to fill two volumes; thus this one (Collected Writings, vol. 10) is God’s Amazing Salvation, Volume II.

PART ONE: OBEDIENCE TO THE GOSPEL

Part One of this book is about “Obedience to the Gospel,” including a four-part sermon series by that title. The four parts are (guess what?) faith, repentance, confession, and baptism! Here I will give a brief outline of these sermons.

A. “Obedience to the Gospel: FAITH” (pp. 3-19).

1. WHAT is faith? It consists of two elements: (a) Assent, i.e., a judgment of the intellect regarding the truth of a statement. Scripture speaks of it as believing that something is true. (b) Trust, i.e., a decision of the will regarding the surrender or commitment of the self to another person. Scripture speaks of it as believing in or believing on that person.

2. WHY is faith necessary for salvation? Because we cannot save ourselves, but must depend on someone else (Jesus) to save us. Faith is that act or attitude of depending on Jesus to save us.

3. WHEN is faith necessary? Before, during, and after the moment you become saved. This is contrary to the Calvinist idea that you must be saved (regenerated) before you are able to believe. This is WRONG! We are not saved UNTO faith, but THROUGH faith; and we stay saved through faith.

B. “Obedience to the Gospel: REPENTANCE” (pp. 21-33).

1. WHAT is repentance? It is (literally) a change of mind – about what? A change of mind about YOUR SIN. It begins in that moment when you cry out (regarding your sin) – “WHAT HAVE I DONE?” It is basically when you stop loving sin and begin to HATE sin – especially including YOUR sins, and not just sins in general.

2. WHY is repentance necessary for salvation? Because God will not forgive your sins unless you repent (Luke 13:3, 5). This repentance is necessary to become saved and necessary to stay saved. It is the constant attitude of hatred toward sin in general and toward your own sin specifically.

3. HOW can we develop a hatred for sin? By focusing on these four truths: (a) Sin destroys us. (b) God Himself hates sin. (c) Sin crucified Jesus. (d) Sin still hurts God.

C. “Obedience to the Gospel: CONFESSION” (pp. 35-49).

1. WHAT must we confess? We must confess what we believe about Jesus: (a) that He is our Lord and King, and (b) that He is our Savior.

2. WHEN must we confess this? (a) As soon as we believe it—before our baptism; (b) as long as we believe it—for the rest of our Christian lives.

3. WHERE must we confess our faith in Jesus? First, before our fellow believers; but ultimately, in the presence of the unbelieving, hostile world. See John 18:33ff.; Matt. 10:32-33; 1 Cor. 12:3.

4. WHY must we confess it? First, because it is a condition for our own salvation (Rom.10:9-10). Second, because the salvation of others can depend on our own faithful testimony to the Lordship of Jesus.

D. “Obedience to the Gospel: BAPTISM” (pp. 51-68).

1. What was our spiritual status BEFORE our baptism? (a) We were spiritually dead in OUR (not Adam’s) transgressions and sins (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13). (b) We were debtors, owing eternal condemnation to God because of our sins (Matt. 6:12; Col. 2:14). (c) We were defenseless (Col. 2:15) before our spiritual enemies.

2. What is our spiritual status NOW, AFTER our baptism? (a) We are alive—given new spiritual life by the gift of the Holy Spirit. (b) We are acquitted—the debt of eternal punishment has been paid by Jesus! Our sins are forgiven! We are justified! God the Judge has declared—“NO PENALTY FOR YOU!” (c) We are armed—given strength by the indwelling Spirit that enables us to resist Satan’s attacks on us!

3. What was the transition point? WHEN did we change from this “before” status to this “after” status? IN BAPTISM! See Col. 2:12: “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (a) Baptism is “the working of God.” (b) It works within us “through faith.” (c) The Bible specifically says the change happens “in baptism.” Let us not contradict God by claiming it happens as some other time.

E. The Rest of Part One.

1. “Conversion: Man’s Response” (pp. 69-75). Eph. 2:8-10 and Col. 2:12 together say we are saved BY grace, THROUGH faith, IN baptism, FOR good works.
2. “The Role of Faith in Conversion” (pp. 77-103).
3. “ ‘Give Me the Hammer!’ ” (pp. 105-112). Learning to HATE SIN.

PART TWO: GRACE APPLIED

A. “ ‘Be of sin the Double Cure’—What It Means To Be Saved” (pp. 115-122). (a) Salvation is first of all being saved from the GUILT of sin, by the act of justification, which brings us into the STATE of forgiveness. We become forgiven persons. (b) Second, salvation is being saved from the CORRUPTION caused by sin, specifically the spiritual corruption (depravity) of our souls (i.e., spirits) via the act of regeneration (new birth, spiritual resurrection). This sets the stage for the ongoing process of sanctification empowered by the indwelling Spirit for the rest of our Christian lives.

B. “ ‘The Body of Sin’ (Romans 6:6)” (pp. 123-134). Every human being has two parts: a body (the flesh) and a soul (or spirit). Sin corrupts both the body and the soul. When we surrender to God for salvation, He saves us from this corruption in two stages: (1) He begins saving our spirits (souls) in baptism via regeneration, and continues this aspect of our salvation for the rest of our Christian lives via sanctification. He completes this stage by making our spirits perfect when they are finally separated from our still-sinful bodies in the moment of physical death (Heb. 12:23). (2) God does NOT begin saving our bodies during this lifetime. The salvation of the body begins in physical death, when the old body is removed from our existence; and it is completed at the second coming of Jesus, when we receive our new, glorified bodies (1 Cor. 15:50-57; Phil. 3:21).

The beginning of this process is seen in Romans 6:6: (1) “Our old man” – This refers to our sinful spirit only, in its pre-baptismal, corrupted state. (2) “was crucified with Him.” – This refers to the moment in baptism (vv. 1-5) when our corrupted spirit was put to death by Christ’s saving power. (3) “in order that” – This refers to the PURPOSE of the spiritual death of the corrupted spirit. (4) “the body of sin” – Here is that purpose: the sin-infested spirit underwent spiritual death (and resurrection—v. 11) so that it might gain POWER over the sin-infested body; i.e., so that this sin-infested body (5) “might be rendered powerless” – not “destroyed,” but “rendered powerless” in its ongoing struggle with our newly-empowered, spiritually-alive spirit. (6) “so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.” Our renewed, regenerated spirit is now able to rule over our still-sinful “body of sin” in the process of sanctification.

The Christian thus consists of a being-redeemed soul and an as-yet-unredeemed body. They are in a constant struggle of good versus evil (7:14ff.), but God gives us an extra source of power that enables our being-redeemed spirits to be victorious, i.e., the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (8:1ff.) In the end, the body itself is redeemed (8:23) along with the entire corrupted physical universe.

PART THREE: ISSUES AND QUESTIONS

A. “We Are Debtors” (pp. 137-143)

B. “Jesus and the Law” (pp. 145-151)

C. “Confession and Forgiveness in James 5:13-20” (pp. 153-155)

D. “Are the Unevangelized Saved?” (pp. 157-160)

E. “Were Old Testament Believers Truly Forgiven?” (pp. 161-166)

F. Did Adam and Eve Go to Heaven?” (pp. 167-170)

G. “Salvation and the ‘Church of Christ’ ” (pp. 171-174)

PART FOUR: LOVE WINS, by ROB BELL – A REVIEW (pp. 175-186)