Q: I Peter 3:5 says we are `shielded by God`s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.` Could this mean that even though we are born again and sealed with Jesus` blood, that we are not ultimately saved until we meet our Father in heaven? I Peter 3:18 Jesus was put to death in the body and THEN made alive in the Spirit. Why is the same not true for us? Thank you so much for your help.
A: I believe the verse you are referring to in your first question is 1 Peter 1:5. It is there were it says, "who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." Christians are, at the same time, saved, being saved and will be saved. If you look at this passage of scripture in context you will see that in verse 3 it says that God "has given us new birth." Our salvation is a gift from God that we have received by placing faith in Jesus Christ. Verse 4 reaffirms this truth by reminding us that, in Christ, we have an inheritance that "can never perish, spoil or fade." While it is true that we have not experienced the fullness of our salvation yet, we definitely do have it as a present possession. Nobody will argue that our lives, here on earth, is heaven in any wave, shape or form. We are saved, but we live in sinful, fallen bodies that inhabit a sinful, fallen creation. But, remember that right now "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20)." A Christian is just as much saved now as they will be when they enter Heaven. It is just that the sin in our lives and the world around us makes it difficult to imagine at times. But, remember that our salvation is not conditional on what we do or don't do, it is guaranteed based on what Jesus Christ has done for us.
"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)." When you first accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, you were given the Holy Spirit of God to indwell you. This is the very life of God that was lost by Adam when He sinned in the Garden of Eden. And because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, on your behalf, there is now no sin that will cause that life to leave. That is why it is called an eternal life. Because we still have sin in our lives, it makes it difficult to come to terms with the fact that we are saved. This can lead to a Christian questioning their salvation. If we are not careful, it can be an opportunity for the devil to plant doubt in our hearts as to who we, ultimately, belong to. However, scripture reminds us of a great truth we have to understand. "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9)." God knows that if our salvation was left up to us to achieve, or maintain, we would fail miserably. Therefore, in His love, He sent Jesus to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus is the only one who has ever lived the Christian life. Now, raised from the dead, He wants to live His life through us. As I have heard it put, He gave His for us, so He could give His life to us, so He could live His life through us.
This brings us to your second question. The same is true for us as it was for Jesus Christ. Christians have been made alive in the Spirit. In fact, if we have not, we are not saved. The key to understanding this truth is right in the verse you quoted. "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18)." The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has brought us to God. Since the Fall of Adam, our sins have separated us from God and He from us. When God created Adam, He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7)." The very life of God was given to Adam. But, when Adam sinned, he died spiritually, and God removed His life from Adam. The absence of life is death. Because of Adam's sin, all mankind comes into this world spiritually dead to God, but alive to the world. We are the "unrighteous" described in the verse you mentioned. Because we are all spiritually dead to God, there is nobody from among mankind who had a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for the sins that separated us from Him. But, Jesus, born of a virgin, is the only man who had a life to give because He, being God in the flesh, was born spiritually alive. His death, as 1 Peter 3:18 says, was "once for all." His sacrifice was satisfactory to God to pay for our sins for all eternity. That is why when a believer sins, the life of God, received at salvation, does not leave them.
Salvation is the restoration of the life of God. As I have stated, before God could restore His life to mankind, He had to do something about the sin that caused that life to leave. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22)." Before God could give us His life He had to take away sin. As scripture says, all mankind is dead spiritually. But, when we accept God's offer of life, made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are resurrected from the dead spiritually. And in the future, when the bodily resurrection of the saints takes place, we will experience the fullness of the salvation we already have received. Think of our salvation as a reservation. "Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:5)." A reservation guarantees us a place in whatever it is we have one for. It is something that cannot be cancelled or given to someone else. The moment you received Christ by faith, you were given the Holy Spirit, the life of God, as a deposit, guaranteeing your salvation. Because of this truth, a Christian is free to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as He reveals to us all that we have been given through faith in Him. This allows God to conform us to likeness of His Son because there is no sin that separates us from Him. Jesus had to die so that, raised from the dead, He could make us alive to God. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we have been raised from the dead, in Him.
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