But while there is but one salvation, and one plan of salvation, this salvation has a two-fold aspect. God has indeed only one standard for Christians, the standard of his Son, that is complete holiness. But God’s message of salvation comes to two distinct classes of people, to lost sinners, and to saints—sinners saved by grace.
Christians Need to Be Saved
“If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10). This is the message of salvation for sinners. The next words of this verse are very significant: “Much more.” The apostle has just been speaking of salvation for sinners, and now he is to tell us something “much more.” This word should prepare us for some amazing revelation of his grace. “Much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
Do Christians, then, need salvation? Indeed they do, and the Word of God suggests here that a good name for that salvation which reconciled Christian needs is “the much more salvation,” and this is just another way of saying “the Victorious Life.”
God has granted that life to every Christian. But not every Christian is enjoying it. For the Christian has the terrible power of choosing to walk after the flesh and not after the Spirit. God’s plan is that the Christian life should be a moment by moment miracle life, just as the new birth is a miracle. “If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk” (Gal. 5:25). Being born again, and “walking,” are two distinct things. When a Christian learns that God intends him to walk by faith, letting Christ do it all, just as he has believed that Christ has done it all in the matter of saving him from the penalty of his sins, then the Christian is ready to enter into the fulness of the Spirit, which is the Victorious Life.
And when he does enter by faith for the first time into this complete victory, which has been his privilege all along in Christ, there is such a marked change that it is natural for a Christian to think of it as a “second blessing.” There is that perfectly clear distinction between being born again, and “walking” or living moment by moment after the new birth has taken place. The man who has been born again is in a place to take hold of the much-more salvation for Christians as he could not do in his unregenerate state.
Testing Our “Doctrine” of Victory
There are some simple tests of our “view” of complete victory over sin which will show whether we are in danger of coming into bondage to a doctrine.
Any view that centers attention upon self is dangerous. The heart secret of victory is looking away from self unto Christ. If I testify, “I am holy”; if I must look into my own state, examining self to see whether this holiness still remains, I am on wrong ground.
Any view that brings into prominence my past record of victory or holiness leads to difficulties. The testimony, “I have not sinned for so many weeks or months since my new experience” may be given with sincerity, and the speaker may intend to give the glory to God. Nevertheless, it is a wrong testimony, and no encouragement is given in the Word for such a statement. For one thing, no human being has a perfect memory; none of us can have accurate knowledge of past states of consciousness. Victory is always a matter of the present moment, and if we are occupied with Christ and his perfect work for us, the matter of our past record is of no consequence, so far as it bears on present victory by faith.