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I have heard many times by baptist that I need to be saved. I feel I have already been saved, but I am curious what it means to a baptist. How can I be saved the baptist way? What are the requirements?

I have heard slightly differing views on the subject. One is that if somebody murders they can lose their salvation after being saved. Another is that once you have said a prayer and accepted Jesus as your savior, nothing can separate you from salvation, even if you for whatever reason want to. Is the only requirement to say a certain prayer? Or are there requirements after? Are you still saved even if nothing changes in your life besides you said a prayer accepting Christ? I have also heard that if you say the prayer and accept Christ as your savior, but you don't change your life to show faith, you were never saved in the first place. So is a prayer and some works required to show faith? What exactly is required in order to be saved?

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    I -1 for lack of research. It's pretty easy to Google this and find an answer: baptistdistinctives.org/articles/… Apr 13, 2015 at 17:45
  • That website didn't give the answer I am looking for so I added more detail. I'm not looking for what saves us, but what I need to do to be saved.
    – atherises
    Apr 13, 2015 at 18:11
  • possible duplicate of What is the SBC's stance on what/how salvation is/works?
    – curiousdannii
    Apr 13, 2015 at 21:44
  • Not a perfect duplicate (because it's limited to that denomination), but it's close. This is a very messy and broad question. When you have four or five sub questions you need to simplify it.
    – curiousdannii
    Apr 13, 2015 at 21:45
  • I think the question is honest and answer pretty simple and hopefully a baptist will answer. However if you don't get a good answer I suggest you find the Commentary on Galatians by Martin Luther as it answers all these questions in a riveting way. Also a Baptist will typically believe the same thing. (The only difference is that they would wonder why Luther be confused about baptism, but that's really just a side issue)
    – Mike
    Apr 13, 2015 at 23:52

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That's sort of like asking, "What color is a horse?" There are horses of many colors, and many answers to the question. Still there is pretty general agreement among all 'anabaptists' (That's the name that baptists get their name from. It just means that they believe that water baptism does not save one, and must be done after one is 'saved.')

The common Baptist doctrine is that you do nothing in the way of good works or religious works, or works of any sort to be saved. The one essential requirement is that one puts his trust in what Jesus has done. That's called "faith" or "believing" in the New Testament ('pistiuo' in New Testament Greek). "By grace are ye saved through faith...." Having by faith in Christ placed yourself before God, He imparts His Spirit to you, and your life begins to be different, so that you can (and will) begin to honestly 'confess Christ' because you are saved.

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  • You may want to add that once a person proclaims faith and it Baptized, they will want to do good works - God will work through them. While they are saved by faith alone, it doesn't mean that they are off the hook for doing good works. It just means that the good works are not the means to salvation. Apr 14, 2015 at 12:09
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According to baptist belief what do you do to be saved?

There is a bit of a spectrum here that can get quite contentious. One side says that all that is necessary for salvation is belief.

Acts 16:30-31 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

The simple belief view is often called "easy believism" by those who fear that many will be assured of salvation when they really have not been saved. These people often establish various criteria to measure salvation status such as making Jesus Lord of your life or demonstrating works that would be consistent with salvation.

Those who lean towards the simple belief perspective often worry that there are those in what they often call the "Lordship salvation" camp who might mislead others with an emphasis on works to mistakenly think they have earned their own salvation.

The subject is further confused as corollary subjects become added for consideration.

  1. Can salvation be lost?
  2. How is salvation measured?
  3. How is salvation assured?

Another source of confusion is the use of the English word "believe" to translate the Greek word "pistis". A more accurate word would be trust or faith.

An additional source of confusion is that it is the nature of organizational and denominational church systems focus on activities (church attendance, seminary graduation, activity participation, etc.). This tends to place an emphasis on what is done, professed, achieved, or testified. Since trust (faith) is the basis of Christianity and is more relational than organizational, many can be left un-assured that their faith is sufficient.

Ironically even with such diversity of opinion in Baptist circles regarding salvation, most Baptists do not regard baptism as necessary for salvation.

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I'm a baptist and I want to tell you and to everyone that to be saved from hell is not the way of affiliation or joining to any organization. Baptist cannot saved you from hell but only Jesus Christ, John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." If you accepted Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior you will be saved, and baptist has that right doctrine.

I'm a baptist and we are saved by grace through faith alone and that's not only beliefs that's the truth if you will going to study the bible.

Ok. When it comes in assurance of salvation,. The bible doesn't teach us loosing salvation if you are really saved you are saved forever [John 10:28] "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."

[Titus 2:1] "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;"

The real salvation is not by works because we cannot surpassed what Jesus Christ did in calvary. 1 Corinthians 15:4 "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

Ephesians 2:8-9

  1. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

  2. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

But now I just want to tell you that once you accepted Jesus Christ in your heart as your personal savior the Holy Spirit will dwell in you and you will receive the power.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The Power is the fruit of Spirit that can change your life.

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The evidence that you are saved is you will see that the Holy Spirit change you.

2 Corinthians 5:17

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Yes, I salvation will not turn you to perfection but you will feel that the Holy Spirit is convicting you.

John 16:8

And when he [Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Lastly the Power to be a sons of God. the original Son of God is Jesus Christ and whosoever believe Jesus Christ will be a son of God also. And the relationship of father and son will never be cut for now God is holding you.

John 1:12

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name

God bless you all. :)

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Although I do not have a full understanding of the baptist belief of the requirements for salvation, I know that they accept and believe the Bible to be the true word of God. With this in mind, I am sure they, as well as all Bible-believing Christians will accept the following scriptures as clear instructions from Christ, as to the requirements to qualify for salvation through the Grace of our Saviour. If anyone has doubts regarding His simple rules as stated therein, I hope he will respond with his reasons for non-acceptance.

In Paul's epistle to the Hebrews, he gave a very simple answer to what is required for us to be saved. He said "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" (Hebrews 5:9) In other words, Christ only saves those that obey Him!

Assuming that by salvation you mean going to live in the kingdom of Heaven, Christ says very clearly, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) In other words, to obey Christ and gain salvation, we must do the will of the Father! Otherwise, He goes on to say that even though we might believe and act in His name, if what we do is not according to the will of His Father, He will not recognize us. (v. 22) More than that, He will condemn us for doing so. (v. 23)

He goes on to explain the will of His Father, saying, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." (v. 25, 26) In other words, it is the will of the Father that we learn and obey all that Christ says. According to His words, this is required to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Obviously then, to believe in Him is not enough! We must learn and do. He made this clear when speaking to some Jews that believed in Him:"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."(John 8:31-32) In other words, again to obey Him, we must learn and do all that He said, to gain an accurate understanding of the truth that we might become free [of deception].

Regarding the importance of learning the truth in order to be saved, our Saviour also said,"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3) In other words, gaining salvation or "life eternal" requires accurate knowledge of His Father and of Him. That is why we must continue studying His word under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth!

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    Welcome to the site. For a question like this, just quoting scripture is not really enough. Without a corroborating Baptist source, we have no way of verifying if this is a common Baptist interpretation. If you have some sources, please edit those in.
    – user3961
    Jun 28, 2015 at 20:51
  • This fits closely with my belief, but it doesn't sound very baptist. A source would be very helpful.
    – atherises
    Jul 6, 2015 at 22:14
  • The only sources I have are those scriptures that I have quoted from the Bible. However, I believe that any honest Baptist would acccept them if he read them. Jul 8, 2015 at 1:23

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