Plan of Salvation

We, in the church of Christ, teach that people have to hear the Gospel of Jesus, believe in Him and His teachings,repent of our sins, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, be baptized and be faithful until death in order to be saved. 

Peter at Pentacost in Acts 2, told the people in Jerusalem about Jesus and the crime they had committed by crucifying the Son of God, verses 23 and 36. Their belief in Peter’s words are shown by the piercing of their hearts; they asked, “Brethren, what shall we do?” v 37. Peter responds in verse 38 by telling them to “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” They had to realize the depth of their sins and change their mindset towards sin before they were baptized. The life they would be living afterwards would be a new life as stated in Romans 6. Their old man was being crucified with Christ in baptism into His death, Romans 6:3.

Numerous examples of conversion are stated throughout the Bible, especially in Acts.

Philip, after the scattering of the Christians by Saul, in Chapter 8, proclaimed Christ to the Samaritans, v 5. They believed the message.”being baptized, men and women alike,” v12.

Further along in the same chapter in verses 26-39, Philip is told by the Holy Spirit to talk with an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading the Scriptures. The man admits that he need help to understand and Philip preaches Jesus to him.We know that Philip’s preaching of Jesus included baptism as the Ethiopian exclaims to Philip in the next verse, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” Philip tells him he has to believe with all his heart first and the Ethiopian answers, I imagine exuberantly, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” In this conversion, we see the example of hearing, belief, confession and baptism.

Lydia, in Acts 16, also hears the Gospel as proclaimed by Paul and is baptized. The prison guard in chapter 16 as well hears the Gospel, probably through the singing and teaching of Paul and Silas while they were in prison. He was frightened by the earthquake and the fear that the prisoners escaped as he would be held accountable for them by his life. He asks them,”What must I do to be saved?” They tell him to believe in Jesus. Then they speak more of the Word of the Lord to him and his household and immediately they are baptized. Only after their baptism is there rejoicing and celebration,, “having believed in God,” as verse 34 states.

Romans 10: 9-17 reveals the need for confession, belief, hearing and for someone to preach the Word of God.

Peter shows the importance of baptism in the plan of salvation as well in 1 Peter 3:21. “And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”