Question fifteen: Is salvation instantaneous or a process?
The word “salvation” comes from a Greek soteria which means deliverance, primarily spiritual deliverance. This salvation or spiritual deliverance has three tenses. We have been delivered from the condemnation of sin, we are being delivered from the control of sin, and we shall be delivered from the very circumstances of sin. I got tired of the p’s (penalty, power, and presence).
The past deliverance is called justification and it was instantaneous. When we trusted Christ as savior, God removed Adam’s imputed sin and in its place imputed the righteousness of Christ. God in Romans 4:6-8 promises to never again put sin on our record: “Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not impute his sin.”
The present deliverance of salvation is called sanctification and it is a process because we are presently being delivered from the control of sin as stated in Philippians 2:12: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
The future deliverance of salvation is called glorification. In the future, we will be delivered from the very circumstances of sin but even more importantly, we will be delivered from the ability to sin and displease our Lord. We will be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ as Paul wonderfully describes in Romans 8:28-30