Quotes About Salvation

There's actually a bald eagle in the
middle of this picture, but my
camera was only so good

Quotes about Salvation from throughout Christian History.

This page has subtopics. Main topic quotes are below.

• The Atonement
• Eternal Security
• Faith versus Works

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Justin Martyr, c. A.D. 150

If, then, you have any concern for yourself, and if you are eagerly looking for salvaiton, and if you believe in God, you may … become acquainted with the Christ of God, and having been completed, live a happy life. (Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew 8)

Clement of Rome (written anonymous from the Church at Rome), A.D. 95-96

Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ and see how precious that blood is to God, which has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Let us turn to every age that has passed and learn that … the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all that would be converted to him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved. (First Clement 7)

Pseudo-Barnabas, A.D. 120 - 130

The man perishes justly, who, having a knowledge of the way of righteousness, rushes off into the way of darkness. (Letter of Barnabas 5)

Letter to Diognetus, A.D. 80 - 200

As long then as the former time endured, he permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts. This was not that he at all delighted in our sins, but that he simply endured them. Nor did he approve of the time of working iniquity which then was, but he sought to form a mind conscious of righteousness, so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us. And, having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able. (ch. 9)

[God] therefore convinced us in the former time [i.e., under the Law] that our nature was unable to attain to life, and he has now revealed the Savior who is able to save even those things which it was impossible to save. By both these facts he wanted to lead us to trust in his kindness, and to regard him as our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counselor, and Healer; our Wisdom, Light, Honor, Glory, Power, and Life. (ch. 9)

Justin Martyr, A.D. 155

If you are eagerly looking for salvation, and if you believe in God, you may ... become acquainted with the Christ of God, and, after being initiated [a reference to baptism], live a happy life. (Dialogue with Trypho 8)

Irenaeus, A.D. 183 - 186

"All men come short of the glory of God" and are not justified of themselves, but by the advent of the Lord—those who earnestly direct their eyes toward his light. (Against Heresies IV:27:2)

Who are they that have been saved and received the inheritance? Those, doubtless, who believe God and who have continued in his love, as did Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun, and innocent children, who have had no sense of evil. But who are they that are saved now and receive life eternal? Is it not those who love God, who believe his promises, and who in malice have become as little children? (Against Heresies IV:28:3)

Clement of Alexandria, c. A.D. 190

No one will be so impressed by the exhortations of any of the saints as he is by the words of the Lord Himself, the lover of man. For this, and nothing but this, is his only work—the salvation of man. Therefore he himself, urging them on to salvation, cries, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" [Matt. 4:17]. Those men that draw near through fear, he converts. (Exhortation to the Heathen 9)

I anoint you with the ungent of faith, by which you throw off corruption, and show you the naked form of righteousness by which you ascend to God. (Exhortation to the Heathen 12)

Martin Luther, c. 1520

The priest is not made. He must be born a priest; must inherit his office. I refer to the new birth—the birth of water and the Spirit. Thus all Christians must became priests, children of God and co-heirs with Christ the Most High Priest. … The Christian priesthood costs life, property, honor, friends and all worldly things. It cost Christ the same on the holy cross. ("First Sunday after Epiphany" from Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. IV [Grand Rapids, MI:BakerBooks, 2007] p. 9)

As I have frequently stated, the suffering and work of Christ is to be viewed in two lights: First, as grace bestowed on us, as a blessing conferred, requiring the exercise of faith on our part and our acceptance of the salvation offered. Second, we are to regard it as an example for us to follow; we are to offer up ourselves for our neighbors' benefit and for the honor of God. This offering is the exercise of our love—distributing our works for the benefit of our neighbors. He who does so is a Christian. He becomes one with Christ, and the offering of his body is identical with the offering of Christ's body. (ibid.)

The offering of [the body] is called a spiritual sacrifice because it is freely sacrificed through the Spirit, the Christian being uninfluenced by the constrainst of the Low or the fear of hell. (ibid., p. 10)

George MacDonald, 1850 - 1900

Except the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus make a man sick of his opinions, he may hold them to doomsday for me; for no opinion, I repeat is Christianity, and no preaching of any plan of salvation is the preaching of the glorious gospel of the living God. (Unspoken Sermons: Series I, II, and III, p. 391)

I do say that the importance they place on theory is even more sadly obstructive to true faith than such theories themselves: while the mind is occupied in enquiring,'Do I believe or feel this thing right?'-the true question is forgotten: 'Have I left all to follow him?' To the man who gives himself to the living Lord, every belief will necessarily come right; the Lord himself will see that his disciple believe aright concerning him. If a man cannot trust him for this, what claim can he make to faith in him? It is because he has little or no faith, that he is left clinging to preposterous and dishonouring ideas, the traditions of men concerning his Father, and neither his teaching nor that of his apostles. The living Christ is to them but a shadow; the all but obliterated Christ of their theories no soul can thoroughly believe in. (Unspoken Sermons: Series I, II, and III, p. 392-3)

Do you ask, 'What is faith in him?' I answer, The leaving of your way, your objects, your self, and the taking of his and him; the leaving of your trust in men, in money, in opinion, in character, in atonement itself, and doing as he tells you. I can find no words strong enough to serve for the weight of this necessity—this obedience. It is the one terrible heresy of the church, that it has always been presenting something else than obedience as faith in Christ. (Unspoken Sermons: Series I, II, and III, p. 393; emphasis in original)

When you say that to be saved a man must hold this or that, then you are forsaking the living God and his will and putting trust in some notion about him or his will. To make my meaning clearer: Some of you say that we must trust in the finished work of Christ. Or you say that our faith must be in the merits of Christ—in the atonement he has made—in the blood he has shed.
   All these statements are a simple repudiation of the living Lord in whom we are told to believe. … No manner or amount of belief about him is the faith of the New Testament.
   With such teaching I have had a lifelong acquaintance, and I declare it most miserably false. (The Truth in Jesus [Minneapolis, MN: BethanyHouse; 2007] p. 59, emphasis in original)

It is the one terrible heresy of the church that it has always been presenting something else than obedience as faith in Christ. (The Truth in Jesus [Minneapolis, MN: BethanyHouse; 2007] p. 62)

Do you suppose [Jesus] ever gave a commandment knowing it was of no use for it could not be done? He tells us a thing knowing that we must do it or be lost. He knows that not even his Father himselfd could save us but by getting us at length to do everything he commands. There is no other way we can know life or learn the holy secret of divene being.
   He knows that you can try, and that in your trying and failing he will be able to help you, until at length you shall do the will of God even as he does it himself. (The Truth in Jesus [Minneapolis, MN: BethanyHouse; 2007] p. 67)