Why we need it, who gets to decide, and what God already did about it.
To understand salvation, we first have to understand why we need it. And before that, there’s a bigger question: who gave God the authority to make the rules and decide that we need saving at all? To answer that, we have to go back to the beginning. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). God is the creator. He made the world, He designed mankind, and He is the author of salvation. Because He made us, He has the authority to decide what is right and wrong. Have you ever thought about where our sense of right and wrong came from? Pick up a Bible and it becomes clear pretty quickly. God has a moral code, and He expects us to live by it.
So that’s why God gets to make the rules. Now, why do we need salvation? Back in the Garden of Eden, shortly after God created the world, He placed a man, Adam, and a woman, Eve, there and gave them one rule. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve took the fruit, Adam took the fruit, and they broke God’s law together. They knew it the instant they did it. And because of that one act, sin passed down from generation to generation, to every person who has ever drawn a breath. Paul says it plainly: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Nobody is exempt. “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Look back on your own life. Have you ever lied? Cheated? Stolen something? Looked at someone with lust in your heart, or wanted what belonged to someone else? Have you ever been proud? Those are just a few of the ways we break God’s law, and every one of them makes you guilty. Not because I say so, but because God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, says so.
Breaking God’s law comes with a punishment. We understand that in our own society. If you steal, you go to jail. But the consequence God sets for sin is far worse. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Notice that verse doesn’t stop at death. It keeps going.
We have all broken God’s law, so we all stand condemned, and we have no hope except in Christ alone. But God didn’t stop at condemnation. Just a chapter earlier in Romans, Paul writes, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God could have wiped the slate clean and started creation over. He could have condemned all of mankind to the same end as satan and his angels. Instead, He offered a second chance.
That second chance is His own Son, His only Son, given as the remedy for our sin. Paul tells the Philippians that Jesus, “being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus died on the cross so that we could be pardoned, set free from the bondage of sin, and given eternal life. Nobody took His life from Him. He gave it willingly so that we could be saved.
But Christ didn’t stay dead. He rose again the third day, and by rising He conquered death and triumphed over sin and satan. That’s why He has the authority to forgive sins. Paul lays it out for the Corinthians: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
So that’s what salvation is, and that’s why you and I need it. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, or how rich or poor you are. God offers forgiveness to anyone who will repent and turn to Him. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). That isn’t a hope. It’s a promise, and God keeps His promises.
So what does calling on Him look like? Humbly admit your sin. Recognize that your sin put Christ on the cross and caused His pain, suffering, and death. Confess it and repent of it, believing that Jesus died for it and rose again the third day, victorious over death and sin. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). The Bible is clear. You will be forgiven. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
In that instant your name is written in the book of life, and it can never be taken back. Scripture speaks of those “whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3). If God could take it back, that would make Him a liar, and He isn’t one. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).
So friend, what’s stopping you from owning your sin and calling on Christ to forgive it? Why wait? “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
If you just called on Christ, start here: I Just Got Saved. If you still have questions, ask.