Is Salvation Only Being Saved From Hell?

Feature 1 – April 2025 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Is Salvation Only Being Saved From Hell?

No, There’s Much More!
Have you ever received a gift that runs on battery power and found that there were no batteries included? It can be very frustrating, and especially so if there are no spare batteries in the home.

There is a gift available that far surpasses all others, for anyone who will receive it. No batteries are needed. The accessories included are numerous and can be described as from out of this world. This amazing present is the gift of salvation.

As a pre-teen, I called upon the Lord Jesus Christ for what might be called “a fire escape from hell!” That may sound selfish, but it is the truth. At that time, I had no concept of the many wonderful things that came with being saved.

Benefits
Over the years I have come to love the Savior and to learn about some of the many benefits attached to this most precious gift. The following verses point out only a few of the “things that accompany salvation” (Heb. 6:9 NKJV).

• Everlasting Life: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).
• Eternal security: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand (10:28).
• Sins removed: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
• Made alive: “When we were dead in trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:5).
• Freedom from the guilt of sin: “All who believe … [are] justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:22,24).
• Peace with God: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1).
• Made children and heirs of God: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (8:16-17).
• Given all things: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (v.32).
• Made inseparable from the love of God: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv.38-39).
• Given grace and peace: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:3-4).
• Given the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (2:12).
• Granted gifts with which to minister: “But the manifestation [gift] of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (12:7-12).
• Provided with comfort: “Blessed be God … of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4). 
• Enabled to display the fruit of the Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).
• Taught to know what we have: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

The above verses only express a few of the multiple, immediate benefits of salvation. We cannot comprehend the additional accessories of this gift yet reserved for the future: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

Responsibilities
With such a gift there comes a responsibility that must not be overlooked as related to the realities and requests that are made of the recipients of this great salvation. Having received the gift:

• We have a new master: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey? … And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:16,18).
• We are requested to be witnesses of our faith: “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:48).
• We are given power to witness: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
• We are asked to remember the Lord: “When He had given thanks, He broke it [the bread] and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me’” (1 Cor. 11:24-25).
• We are encouraged to gather in Christian fellowship: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another” (Heb. 10:25).

Challenges
This article would be remiss if it did not warn you that there are some apparent less-glorious aspects that also accompany salvation. However, we are assured that each apparent negative, or challenge, is counter-balanced by a greater positive!

• Being saved, you should have a change in lifestyle: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom 12:2).
• You will suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ: “But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Pet. 4:13).

To prevent this article from becoming too long, several New Testament books were quickly skimmed for verses to illustrate some of the things that accompany salvation. Only a few points and verses were then selected and recorded here. It must be stated that there are many, many more things that are accessories to the gift of salvation, such as redemption, sanctification, the Lord Himself and a Father in heaven, a home in glory, a spiritual family, and others that could be listed. In fact, there are not only the multitudes of blessings attached to our salvation but also additional responsibilities and challenges to being a Christian. As you consider these things, please remember that even the challenges associated with being a Christian are blessings, although they may feel like negatives. This statement is reinforced by the truth that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

May we be encouraged to read through the whole Bible – or at least the New Testament – and continue to outline the things that are accessories to the gift of salvation. It might be good to use the same three headings followed in this article: “benefits,” “responsibilities” and “challenges” of that great gift. You will be wonderfully encouraged with the many things that accompany salvation!

By G. H. B.