Bible verses about Salvation

At the core of the Christian faith is the idea of salvation, that we as humans are sinners and we need a Savior to save us from ourselves and our sinful nature. Most people know that Jesus saves us, but how much do we truly know about salvation? Here are some Bible verses about salvation that help us understand it.

 

Bible Verses on Assurance of Salvation

1. “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” – Romans 10:13 (NIV) 

Many religions’ salvation requires you to do things that make you “good enough” or so that you have a better chance of being saved. In Christianity, we are assured that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you’ve called on His name and asked Him to be your Savior, you have been saved. Calling on His name brings new life into our souls and frees us up to live for Him and His Kingdom.
 

2. “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” – Colossians 2:13-14 (NIV) 

The biggest assurance that we have about our salvation is that it isn’t up to us; it’s up to God. Our salvation isn’t contingent on what we can do. It is God who makes us alive together with Christ and forgives us of our sin against Him. Like Hebrews 12:2 says, Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. We can trust in His power for our salvation instead of our own.
 

3. “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” – John 10:9 (NIV)

Many times, we try to find salvation through various methods. Yet Jesus says that He Himself is the gate. We can only find true salvation in Jesus alone. If we make the effort to ask Christ into our lives and to develop and cultivate a genuine relationship with Him, we will find salvation. We will find pasture and peace in His presence. As He says in the rest of John 10, He is the good shepherd and He takes care of us, His sheep.
 

4. “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (NIV)

This verse is interesting because it tells us that we are saved by the gospel itself. What is the gospel? It is the good news that Jesus Christ came to this earth as a man and died on our behalf so that we can have eternal life. This is the message that saves us! If we believe in this and center our lives around it, we can be assured that we have salvation. Let us find this to be an encouragement to hold tightly to the gospel and the message of Christ Jesus.
 

5. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from the from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 3:20 (NIV)

Have you ever thought about the fact that the earth is not our home? Like Ephesians 1 tells us, once we are born into the family of God through the gospel of salvation, we hold an inheritance in heaven that can never be taken away from us.

Through our faith in Christ Jesus, you and I have become citizens of heaven and we can always have faith in that citizenship through the salvation that we have. If you have this citizenship, you can eagerly await and hope in Jesus’ return when He brings ultimate salvation from this world. 

Bible Verses About Salvation for Loved Ones

6. “They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.” – Acts 16:31 (NIV)

When thinking about salvation for your loved ones, it can be worrying wondering whether they will be with you for eternity or not. Yet the salvation process is simple. If they believe in the Lord Jesus, they can be saved. We want to encourage you to talk to your loved ones about Christ and the Gospel of salvation. Trust that God is right there with you in those conversations.

7. “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Acts 2:21 (NIV)

Notice the word “all” here. Anyone and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Although in other religions, you have to be good enough to get into heaven, in Christianity, your loved ones simply have to call on the name of the Lord to be saved.

8. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” – 1 Corinthians 15:22 (NIV)

If your loved ones are saved, there is hope for them after death. Even though when Adam sinned, he brought death into the world, Christ brought life when He came. He brought eternal life so that you and your loved ones might be saved and raised up again to a new life in Christ Himself. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if you and your loved ones are in Christ, you are new creations.

9. “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” – 1 John 5:12 (NIV)

It’s safe to say that we all want our loved ones to have life in abundance. The key to that is for them to have the Son of God in their lives. The way that you and I live shows to our loved ones the nature of God. We must live in a way that shows Christ’s love to them accurately so that they too will want to have the Son of God in their lives.
 

10. “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” – Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)

When God saves you or your loved ones, He doesn’t save in part. He saves completely. He intercedes for us as our great high priest at the right hand of the Lord. Remember as you share your faith with your loved ones that God will save them completely if it is in His will. Trust Him to do the saving.
 

Bible Verses About Salvation in Jesus

11. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”– John 15:6 (NIV)

Back in the times of the Bible and even in the times we’re living in today, people had many different ways that they thought they could get salvation from God the Father. However, as Jesus tells us here, salvation can only be found in Jesus. Jesus is the only way that we can get to God and is the only one who can bring salvation to our lives.

12. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (NIV)

The fact that Jesus came to the earth in the form of a man and died a sinner’s death is a bigger deal than we often treat it. As Isaiah 53:5 says, He died an awful death and was treated awfully just to save you and me. Yet this was all out of God’s love for us. Jesus came and did these things so that we can find salvation and eternal life in Him and His sacrifice.

13. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” – Romans 3:23-24 (NIV)

In the times of Moses, the people of Israel had to sacrifice animals and make offerings to God in order to redeem themselves before the Lord. This is how they gained and maintained their salvation. However, when Jesus came and died for us, He served as the ultimate sacrifice and offering to God, redeeming us all for all of our sins and bringing us salvation. It is by His grace that we are saved.

14. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12 (NIV)

This verse says it loud and clear: Jesus is the only one who can grant us salvation. Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ. Throughout the scriptures, Jesus’ name is powerful and carries much weight. It is no different today. As Philippians 2:10 says, at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.

15. “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” – Romans 5:10 (NIV)

 
I don’t think we often realize that before we are saved by Jesus, we are actually standing as enemies of God. Since we rebel against God through sin, we make ourselves enemies of God because God is against sin. Yet, through the blood of Christ and His sacrifice, we have been reconciled back to God and God now invited us to His table. We are former enemies turned into sons and daughters.
 

Bible Verses About Salvation Not by Works

16. “Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” – Romans 4:4-5 (NIV)

Contrary to many religions, one is not saved by works, but by faith in who God is. This is a concept that is prevalent throughout the entire Bible. For example, it says in Genesis 15:6 after God told Abraham (at that time Abram) that his descendants would be many, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Faith brings us righteousness and salvation in the Lord, not works.

17. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” – Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

Paul in Ephesians makes it very clear – we are saved by grace. It is by God’s love and His mercy that we are made alive in Christ. At this point in time, the Gentiles were still struggling to be accepted into churches by the Jews. The Jews were still stuck in the Mosaic law, thinking that salvation came from works alone. Yet here Paul corrects them and says that we are made alive by God’s grace, not by anything we can do. 

18. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” – Titus 3:4-5a (NIV) 

Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (NIV) Even when we think that we have done righteous acts and deeds, they pale in comparison to the kindness and love that God our Savior shows us. We are not saved by anything that we could ever do, but only by His great love and mercy.

19. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

Why are we not saved by works? It is actually so that we cannot use it as another reason to be prideful. Let’s face it, human beings are beings of pride and ego. Yet when it comes to salvation, no part of the process can be attributed to us so that we are forced to give God all the glory. We are saved simply by grace through faith and not by our works so that no one can boast.

20. “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” – Galatians 2:21 (NIV)

One thing we often don’t realize is that even if we could be saved by works, we would never be good enough to get into heaven or to receive eternal life with Christ. Righteousness simply cannot be gained through the law because of the sinful nature of mankind. Therefore, Christ had to come and die for us so that we can be justified through grace and faith, not through works of the law. 

Examples of Salvation in the Bible

Paul's Story of Salvation

One of the most famous examples of salvation taking place in the Bible is in the story of Paul. Prior to salvation, Paul’s name was Saul and he was infamous for his persecution of the Christian faith. He would quite literally chase down Christians and give them up to torture, beatings, and death. In fact, he was there at the first martyring of Stephen in Acts 7:54-60. It says in Acts 8:1, “And Saul approved of their killing him.” (NIV) Clearly, this was a guy who was opposed to the church and the Christian faith.
 
Yet one day, Saul was on his way to Damascus when a light from heaven flashed around him and he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4, NIV) This was Jesus appearing to him and converting him to the Christian faith. He became blind until he met with a disciple named Ananias in Damascus who restored his sight. From then on, he became one of the most devout evangelists and probably the greatest missionary in history. Paul’s story is a testament to the power of salvation and how much Jesus can change you by His saving grace. 

The Philippian Jailer's Salvation Story

While Paul was on one of his missionary journeys with Silas, they came to the city of Philippi where they were attacked, stripped, and beaten with rods. They were then both thrown into jail and guarded by a jailer who was commanded to keep a close watch on them. Then, something miraculous happened.
 
Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing to God and suddenly there was a violent earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison. In an instant, the prison doors were flung open and the chains of all the prisoners came loose. The jailer awoke in a panic and was about to kill himself because he thought that the prisoners had escaped, but Paul shouted to him that they were all there.
 
Immediately, the Jailer fell trembling and asked Paul and Silas how to receive salvation from their God. He knew from what had happened that their God was the real deal and that he needed to get right with Him. After they had walked him through salvation by the Word of the Lord, it says in Acts 16:33-34, “At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God – he and his whole household.” (NIV) Behold, the power of salvation.
 
Conclusion
 
Salvation is a powerful and beautiful thing. It can only be found through Jesus Christ and by grace and faith, not by works. Yet it is available to everyone who asks for it and seeks the Lord with their hearts. Hopefully, some of these verses and stories have broadened your perspective on salvation and have encouraged you to get out there and share your salvation with others so that they might experience the life that Jesus brings.