The Plan of Salvation

Five answers weighed against the witness of Scripture

What must I do to be saved?

Every verdict on this board is an assessment, not a pronouncement. It reflects how each presentation fares against the plain reading of the passage in its context. Each system is stated as those who use it would state it, and where a system has a serious answer to a passage that wounds it, that answer is given under "How proponents answer."

None of the five is itself Scripture. Two are church doctrines defined by a council or synod; three are teaching outlines made by one man to walk a seeker through the Bible. Each was formulated at a known time. The question is which one says what the Bible says, and leaves nothing out that the Bible puts in.

Where they came from

• The Catholic sacramental view — the Council of Trent, 1546–47, answering Luther: the decree on original sin (June 17, 1546), the Decree on Justification (January 13, 1547), and the canons on baptism (March 3, 1547). Infant baptism is older: Tertullian mentions it around 200 (and urges delay), Cyprian defends it in 253, Augustine ties it to original sin around 412. Yearly private confession was required by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.
• The Reformed view — John Calvin's Institutes (1536; final edition 1559); its five points defined by the Synod of Dort (November 1618 to May 1619) against the five articles of the Remonstrants (1610). The acronym "TULIP" comes much later: Cleland Boyd McAfee in a lecture around 1905, first in print in 1913.
• The Five Steps — Walter Scott, Ohio, 1827. His list was faith, repentance, baptism, remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, taken from Acts 2:38. "Hear" and "confess" were added later, and "live faithfully" later still. In print: The Gospel Restored (1836).
• The Romans Road — Jack Hyles, East Texas, about 1948, by his own account in a 1970 sermon; recounted in his Let's Go Soul Winning (1962). No earlier source has been found.
• The Four Spiritual Laws — Bill Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ, 1956–57; printed as the booklet Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws? in 1965.

The Romans Road and the Four Spiritual Laws usually close with a sinner's prayer. Where that prayer came from, and whether Scripture teaches it, is searched in The Sinner's Prayer.

What to look for

• The first cluster is shared ground. All five agree on sin, death, and the cross.
• The clusters on baptism and on the conversions in Acts are where the systems part, because they place forgiveness at different moments.
• The clusters on God's choice, on children, and on a Christian who sins test what the Catholic and Reformed views add: election, infant baptism and inherited sin, penance, and whether a saved person can be lost.
• "Silent" is not a mark against anyone. A system that does not speak to a passage is not refuted by it.
• Compare counts with care. Every passage counts the same, but not every view is tested on every passage: the Romans Road and the Four Spiritual Laws are silent on about ten, because they do not address election, children, or sin after conversion. A view tested on more passages has more chances to strain.
• How the verdicts are drawn. Contradicts means the passage plainly says what the view denies; the view's answer is still given. Strains means the view can read the passage its way only by granting an assumption the text allows, and the assumption is named. Each point is counted once, at the passage that tests it most directly.

The board counts; it does not rank. Read every passage for yourself.

Sources

• Council of Trent, Session VI: Decree on Justification — Hanover Historical Texts
• Synod of Dort — Wikipedia
• Originator of the T.U.L.I.P. Acrostic? — PCA Historical Center
• Cleland Boyd McAfee — Wikipedia
• Walter Scott (clergyman) — Wikipedia)
• Restorer of Gospel Evangelism — Christian Standard
• The "5 Step Plan" and the Gospel, Part 2: Church History — Caleb Coy
• There Remaineth Yet Very Much Land to Be Possessed — Jack Hyles
• The Roman Road Back to Rome — The Girded Mind
• History of the Four Spiritual Laws Booklet — Cru
• Bill and Vonette Bright — Cru
• Four Spiritual Laws — Wikipedia
• Would You Like to Know God Personally? — Cru

The Catholic Sacramental View

Baptism, the sacrament of faith, washes away original and personal sin and gives new birth, to infants as well as adults; grace grows through faith working by love and the sacraments, and grace lost by mortal sin is restored through the sacrament of penance.

The Roman Catholic Church

Justification is by grace from first to last: nothing before it, faith or works, earns it. It is received in baptism, which the Council of Trent calls "the sacrament of faith, without which no man was ever justified." Because every child inherits Adam's sin, infants are baptized too, with the Church and the parents professing the faith for them. A baptized person can lose grace by mortal sin and recover it through penance: confession to a priest, who absolves by the authority Christ gave the apostles (John 20:23).

Origin

• Defined by: the Council of Trent, answering the Protestant Reformers. The decree on original sin (Session V, June 17, 1546) says infants are baptized "for the remission of sins"; the Decree on Justification (Session VI, January 13, 1547) condemns justification "by faith alone" and says a person who falls is "again justified... through the sacrament of Penance"; the canons on baptism (Session VII, March 3, 1547) declare baptism necessary for salvation.
• Older roots: infant baptism is first mentioned around 200 by Tertullian, who urges waiting; Cyprian defends baptizing newborns in 253; Augustine ties it to inherited guilt around 412. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) required every Catholic to confess to a priest at least once a year.
• Today: the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992): "Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament" (§1257).

The Reformed View

Since the fall all are dead in sin and cannot believe of themselves; God chose before the world whom he would save, Christ died to secure their salvation, the Spirit gives them new birth so that they believe, and God keeps them so that they never finally fall away.

Presbyterian and Reformed churches, Reformed Baptists, and many evangelicals

Salvation is God's work from beginning to end. Faith and repentance are real and necessary, but they are God's gift to the elect, not a decision the unregenerate could make on their own. The sinner is justified by faith alone the moment he believes. Baptism is a sign and seal of God's covenant, given to believers and (in Presbyterian and Reformed churches) to their children; it does not bring forgiveness.

Origin

• Taught by: John Calvin (1509–1564), Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; final edition 1559), building on Augustine.
• Defined by: the Synod of Dort in the Netherlands (November 1618 to May 1619). Its Canons answered the five articles of the Remonstrants (1610), followers of Jacobus Arminius, and became the "five points of Calvinism." The Westminster Confession (1646) gave them their English-speaking form.
• The acronym: "TULIP" (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints) is credited to Cleland Boyd McAfee, in a lecture around 1905. Its first known appearance in print is an article by William Vail in 1913.

The Five Steps

Hear the gospel, believe it, repent, confess Jesus as Lord, and be baptized for the remission of sins; then live faithfully unto death.

Churches of Christ and much of the Stone-Campbell (Restoration) Movement

Each step is taken from a command or an example in the New Testament, and forgiveness is placed where Acts 2:38 and 22:16 place it: at baptism. Baptism earns nothing. It is where the believing, penitent sinner is buried with Christ into his death (Romans 6:3-4), and a life of faithfulness follows.

Origin

• Author: Walter Scott (1796–1861), evangelist of the Mahoning Baptist Association, later a leader of the Restoration Movement with Alexander Campbell.
• Date: 1827, his first year preaching on Ohio's Western Reserve. His first convert under it, William Amend, was baptized at New Lisbon, Ohio, on November 18, 1827.
• Scott's list: faith, repentance, and baptism (what a person does), then remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life (what God gives), all drawn from Acts 2:38. Counted off on the fingers, it became the "five-finger exercise."
• In print: The Gospel Restored (1836).
• The list used today: "Hear" and "confess" were added at the front and God's promises dropped from the end; "live faithfully" was added as a sixth step later. No single author or date is recorded for the change. By the twentieth century it was the standard form in tracts, charts, and sermons.

The Romans Road

All have sinned; the wages of sin is death; Christ died for us while we were sinners; whoever confesses Jesus as Lord, believes God raised him, and calls on his name is saved.

Baptist and other evangelical churches, especially in personal soul-winning; usually closed with a sinner's prayer

Every step comes from Paul's letter to the Romans, so a seeker can be walked through the gospel with one book open. Salvation comes the moment a person believes and calls on the Lord, usually put into words in a prayer. Baptism follows as the first act of obedience by one already saved, a public picture of what has already happened.

Origin

• Author: Jack Hyles (1926–2001), Baptist pastor, from 1959 at First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, by his own account. No earlier source has been found, but nothing independent confirms his claim either.
• Date: About 1948, in a small East Texas church. In a 1970 sermon Hyles said he had come up with "a little plan" he called "The Roman Road" about twenty-two years before.
• His verses: Romans 3:10, 3:23, 5:12, and 5:8. The common form today is 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9-10, and 10:13.
• In print: recounted in Hyles's Let's Go Soul Winning (Sword of the Lord, 1962).

The Four Spiritual Laws

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life; sin separates us from God; Jesus Christ is God's only provision for sin; we must each receive Christ as Savior and Lord by personal invitation.

Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and evangelical campus and street evangelism worldwide

Receiving Christ, in the booklet's words, "involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives." The reader does that in a suggested prayer ("I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord") on the strength of Revelation 3:20 and John 1:12, and is assured that Christ has come in. Baptism is not one of the four laws and is not in the prayer.

Origin

• Author: Bill Bright (1921–2003), who founded Campus Crusade for Christ at UCLA in 1951.
• Date: Written in the 1950s: 1956 in Cru's biography of Bright, 1957 in other accounts. A Christian sales consultant had urged his staff to use one simple presentation everyone could repeat. Vonette Bright and staff women typed the final version.
• In print: the booklet Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?, 1965. By Cru's estimate it has been printed in some 200 languages and billions of copies.

Where All Five Agree

The Romans Road and the Four Spiritual Laws open with these verses, and every other view assumes them.

Hearing, Believing, Repenting

What happens in the heart before anything is said or done.

Confessing and Calling

The Romans Road's destination, and the verses the sinner's prayer leans on.

Receiving Christ

The two verses the Four Spiritual Laws build its invitation on.

God's Choice and Man's Response

Who begins salvation, whom God wants saved, and whether his call can be refused.

Baptism and Salvation

Where the systems part. Each passage ties baptism to salvation or to union with Christ.

Children and Inherited Sin

Is guilt inherited, and should those too young to believe be baptized?

What Converts Were Told

The question each system answers was asked in Acts, and answered by the apostles.

Saved Before Baptism?

The two passages most often offered to show that a person is saved before, or without, baptism.

When a Christian Sins

What a baptized believer who sins is told to do, and whether grace can be lost.

Faith, Works, and Faithfulness

What saves, what does not, and what comes after.

All have sinned, and all need grace. (rom-3-23)

Trent's Decree on Justification opens from here: neither nature nor the law could free anyone from sin.

Eternal life is God's gift in Christ. (rom-6-23)

Trent teaches that nothing before justification, faith or works, earns the grace of justification. Whether later merit fits "free gift" is weighed under Ephesians 2:8-9.

Christ died for sinners; every sacrament draws on the cross. (rom-5-8)

The view calls the cross the meritorious cause of justification: what baptism and penance give, Christ's death obtained.

For an adult, faith comes by hearing the Church's preaching. (rom-10-14)

Trent describes adults being moved to faith "by hearing," and disposed by it toward baptism.

God loves the world and gives life to the believer. (john-3-16)

The view holds that Christ died for all, and baptism is called the sacrament of faith.

Adults must repent before baptism, and repent again after sin. (luke-13-3)

Repentance stands before baptism for an adult, and inside the sacrament of penance for a baptized person who sins.

The faith is confessed aloud at every baptism. (rom-10-9)

Baptism includes a spoken profession of the creed, by the one baptized or, for an infant, by the parents and godparents.

Calling on the Lord is joined to baptism, as in Acts 22:16. (rom-10-13)

The view reads Paul's quotation of Joel the way Peter used it at Pentecost, where the answer to "what shall we do?" was "be baptized."

Believers receive the right to become children of God. (john-1-12)

The view places the new birth itself at baptism, where one is "born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5).

No one comes unless God first moves him. (john-6-44)

Trent teaches that justification begins with God's grace going before any merit, calling the sinner, while the sinner remains free to accept or refuse it.

God wills all to be saved. (1tim-2-3)

The view takes "all men" as every person, and teaches that Christ died for all.

God's grace can be resisted. (acts-7-51)

Trent condemns the claim that free will cannot refuse God's call (Session VI, canon 4). Stephen's hearers do refuse it.

Baptism unites a person to Christ's death and new life. (rom-6-3)

The view reads Paul at face value: one is baptized "into his death" and rises to walk in newness of life.

Clothed with Christ in baptism. (gal-3-26)

Faith and baptism together make sons of God, as the view teaches.

"Baptism doth now save you." (1pet-3-21)

The view takes Peter at his word: baptism saves, through the resurrection of Christ.

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (mark-16-16)

For an adult convert the verse fits the view exactly: belief, then baptism, then salvation. Whether those too young to believe should be baptized is tested at Acts 8:12.

"Buried with him in baptism," but the Church usually baptizes by pouring. (col-2-12)

The view's account of what baptism does fits Paul exactly: God acts in it, and the one baptized is raised with Christ. But Paul, here and in Romans 6:4, calls baptism a burial, and the Catholic Church today usually pours water on the head.

That "buried" describes what baptism means, not the form it takes, so that pouring is a true baptism.

Catholics point to the Didache (about AD 100), which allows pouring water on the head three times when there is not enough water to immerse, and note that the Church still permits immersion.

Repent and be baptized unto the remission of sins. (acts-2-37)

Remission at baptism is the view's teaching. Catholics also read verse 39, "to your children," as including infants.

Preaching Jesus led to baptism without delay. (acts-8-35)

An adult hears, believes, and is baptized, as the view teaches for adult converts.

Belief, then the household baptized that night. (acts-16-30)

Catholics cite the jailer's household, "he and all his," among the household baptisms that support baptizing children.

Sins washed away in baptism. (acts-22-16)

Saul believed and prayed, and still received forgiveness in baptism, as the view teaches.

"The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father": yet infants are baptized for the remission of Adam's sin. (ezek-18-20)

Trent teaches that Adam passed on to the whole human race not only death but "sin, which is the death of the soul," and that infants, who have committed no sin of their own, are baptized "for the remission of sins" so that what they contracted from Adam may be washed away (Session V, canons 2 and 4). Ezekiel says the opposite in so many words: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the soul that sins is the one that dies. A newborn has done nothing that needs remission.

The Catechism (§405) says original sin "does not have the character of a personal fault" in Adam's descendants. It is a wounded nature handed on, so Ezekiel's rule about personal guilt is not broken.

Jesus says the kingdom already belongs to little children. (matt-19-14)

Catholics read "forbid them not" as a reason not to keep children from baptism. But Jesus blesses the children without baptizing them, and says the kingdom belongs to "such" already.

That bringing children to Jesus means bringing them to baptism, and that "to such belongeth the kingdom" describes what baptism gives them.

Those baptized were those who believed: "both men and women." (acts-8-12)

The verse describes believers being baptized, and names men and women, not children. Every baptism in the New Testament follows the hearer's own belief (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:41, 8:38, 18:8), and most Catholic baptisms are of infants, before they can hear, believe, or repent.

That baptizing believing adults does not rule out baptizing those too young to believe, with the faith of the Church, professed by parents and godparents, standing in for the infant's own.

Catholics answer that Acts records a first generation of adult converts, and point to whole households baptized (16:15, 16:33; 1 Corinthians 1:16) and to Peter's "to you is the promise, and to your children" (Acts 2:39).

A baptized man who sinned was told to repent and pray to the Lord, not to confess to an apostle. (acts-8-22)

Peter was present and could have absolved Simon. He told Simon instead to repent and "pray the Lord."

That Peter's instruction here does not exclude the sacrament of penance, whose ground the view finds in John 20:23.

Christians who sin must confess to be forgiven. (1john-1-9)

The view agrees that a Christian who sins confesses and is forgiven, and holds that this includes confession in the sacrament.

Christ gave the apostles authority to forgive and retain sins. (john-20-23)

The Council of Trent (Session XIV, 1551) names this verse as the institution of the sacrament of penance: a priest, by this authority, hears confession and absolves.

Grace can be lost. (gal-5-4)

Trent condemns the claim that a justified man cannot lose grace (Session VI, canon 23). Paul says to Christians, "ye are fallen away from grace."

Paul says "not of works, that no man should glory"; Trent says good works truly merit eternal life. (eph-2-8)

The view agrees that the first grace cannot be earned. But Trent also teaches that the good works of the justified "truly merit" an increase of grace and eternal life itself (Session VI, canon 32). Paul says salvation is the gift of God, "not of works," and sets merit against grace outright: "to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt" (Romans 4:4). Eternal life is "the free gift of God" (Romans 6:23). What is merited is owed, and what is owed is not a gift.

Catholics, following Augustine, say that when God rewards these merits he is crowning his own gifts. The works are done by his grace, so no one can glory in them.

"Not only by faith." (james-2-24)

Trent cites James against justification by faith alone.

The crown is given to those faithful unto death. (rev-2-10)

The view teaches that the baptized must persevere, and can fall.

All have sinned; total depravity begins here. (rom-3-23)

The view's first point is that every person is a sinner, unable to save himself.

Death is earned; life is a free gift. (rom-6-23)

The gift is wholly God's, given to those he chose.

Christ died for us while we were sinners. (rom-5-8)

For the view, "us" is God's people, for whom the cross accomplished salvation.

God saves his elect through preaching. (rom-10-14)

The view holds that God uses means: the elect come to faith by hearing the word of Christ.

"God so loved the world... whosoever believeth": the cross offered to everyone. (john-3-16)

The view teaches limited atonement: Christ died to save the elect, not every person. John says God gave his Son out of love for "the world."

That "the world" means people of every nation rather than every individual, and that "whosoever" means anyone who believes, which only the elect will.

The Reformed say John uses "world" for mankind in its rebellion against God, so the point is the greatness of God's love, not the extent of the atonement. The offer is sincere to all, though only the elect will believe it.

Repentance is necessary; God grants it. (luke-13-3)

The view teaches that the elect truly repent, as God's gift (Acts 11:18).

Confession and faith are the response of one reborn. (rom-10-9)

The view holds that the one who believes and confesses is justified, by faith alone.

Whoever calls on the Lord will be saved. (rom-10-13)

Read on its own, the verse fits the view: the one who calls in faith is saved. Whether that calling comes before baptism or in it is tested at Acts 22:16.

Born "not of the will of man, but of God." (john-1-12)

The next verse (1:13) says those who receive him were born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," which the view reads as rebirth by God's will alone.

"No man can come... except the Father draw him." (john-6-44)

A central text for total depravity and irresistible grace: no one can come unless drawn, and the one drawn is raised up at the last day.

Others answer that verse 45 says how the Father draws: "they shall all be taught of God," and every one who hears and learns comes. Drawing by teaching can be refused.

"As many as were ordained to eternal life believed." (acts-13-48)

The view's plain reading: God's appointment came first, and belief followed in exactly those appointed.

God "would have all men to be saved." (1tim-2-3)

If God wants every person saved and his grace cannot be resisted, all would be saved. The view must read "all men" another way.

That "all men" means all kinds of men, rulers as well as subjects (verses 1-2), not every person.

Some Reformed writers distinguish God's revealed will, his desire that all be saved, from his decree of whom he will save.

"Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit." (acts-7-51)

The view teaches that the Spirit's call to the elect cannot be resisted. Stephen says his hearers resist the Spirit, as their fathers did.

That what is resisted here is the Spirit's outward call through the prophets and preaching, not his inward call to the elect, which no one resists.

Paul says a person comes into Christ's death through baptism. (rom-6-3)

The view places union with Christ at regeneration and faith, with baptism as its sign and seal.

That "baptized into Christ" means the Spirit's work, or that water baptism seals a union already complete.

The Reformed call baptism a sign and seal of union with Christ. Because the sign is so closely tied to the thing it signifies, Paul can speak of the sign in the terms of what it signifies.

"As many as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ." (gal-3-26)

On the view, one has put on Christ before baptism, by faith.

That "baptized into Christ" is the Spirit's work at regeneration (1 Corinthians 12:13), or speaks of the sign in the terms of the thing it signifies.

Peter says baptism "doth now save you." The view says the believer is saved before it. (1pet-3-21)

Peter says baptism saves, through Christ's resurrection, and guards only against taking it as a bath. On the view, baptism signs and seals a salvation already given.

The Reformed read "after a true likeness" as making baptism a figure of salvation, as the ark was, and say the saving reality is the appeal of a good conscience, made by faith.

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (mark-16-16)

Jesus puts the promise after belief and baptism. The view puts it at belief, before baptism.

Condemnation is attached to disbelief only, and the oldest manuscripts end Mark at 16:8.

Buried and raised with Christ "in baptism." (col-2-12)

Paul places burial and resurrection with Christ in baptism, through faith. The view places them at regeneration. Presbyterian and Reformed churches also usually baptize by sprinkling or pouring, where Paul calls baptism a burial.

That baptism here is spoken of as the sign of a burial and resurrection already accomplished by the Spirit, and that "buried" describes its meaning rather than its form.

The Reformed note that the verse before (2:11) speaks of a circumcision "not made with hands," and read baptism as its sign, as circumcision was the sign of the old covenant.

Believers were told to be baptized unto the remission of sins. (acts-2-37)

The crowd was pricked in heart; on the view they were regenerate and justified. Peter told them to repent and be baptized "unto the remission of your sins."

Some read "unto" (eis) as "with reference to." Critics answer that Matthew 26:28 uses the same words of Christ's blood "unto remission of sins."

Philip preached Jesus, and the eunuch asked for baptism at once. (acts-8-35)

Preaching Jesus led straight to baptism. The view would have the eunuch justified before reaching the water.

That baptism here followed a justification already complete.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house." (acts-16-30)

The view cites both the call to believe and the baptism of "all his" household, which Presbyterians read as including children.

A believing, praying Saul still had sins to be washed away. (acts-22-16)

On the view, Saul was justified when he believed on the road. Ananias told him three days later to "be baptized, and wash away thy sins."

The Reformed read "wash away thy sins" as the language of the sign, the outward washing that seals an inward cleansing already received.

"The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father": yet Adam's guilt is counted to every child. (ezek-18-20)

The Westminster Confession says the guilt of Adam's first sin "was imputed" to all his posterity (6.3), so that every person is born guilty and under God's wrath. Ezekiel says in so many words that the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and that the soul that sins is the one that dies.

The Reformed answer that Adam stands as the covenant head of mankind, so that "through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation" (Romans 5:18). Ezekiel, they say, speaks of fathers and sons in Israel under the law, not of Adam as the head of the race.

The kingdom belongs to the children of believers. (matt-19-14)

Presbyterian and Reformed churches baptize infants not to forgive them but because, as children of believers, they already belong to the covenant. "To such belongeth the kingdom" fits that reading.

Those baptized were those who believed: "both men and women." (acts-8-12)

Presbyterian and Reformed churches baptize the infants of believers. This verse names believing men and women.

That baptizing believing adults does not rule out baptizing believers' children, as circumcision was given to Israel's sons (Colossians 2:11-12).

Reformed Baptists, who hold the same five points, baptize only believers; the view is divided on this question.

Simon believed and was baptized, then was told he might not be forgiven. (acts-8-22)

Luke says "Simon also himself believed: and being baptized, he continued with Philip" (8:13). Peter then says he is "in the gall of bitterness" (8:23) and must repent and pray "if perhaps" he will be forgiven.

That Simon's faith was never true faith, so he was never saved and could not fall.

Believers confess their sins and are forgiven. (1john-1-9)

The view teaches that the elect keep confessing sin to God throughout their lives.

Christ gives the apostles authority to forgive and retain sins. (john-20-23)

The view rejects priestly absolution and must explain what authority the apostles received.

That the apostles forgive and retain sins by declaring the gospel's terms (as Peter did in Acts 2:38), not by absolving individuals.

Paul tells Christians they are "severed from Christ" and "fallen away from grace." (gal-5-4)

The view teaches perseverance of the saints: no truly saved person can finally fall. Paul writes to churches he calls brethren, who "were running well" (5:7), and says they are severed from Christ and fallen from grace. No one can be severed from Christ who was never joined to him, or fall from a grace he never stood in.

The Reformed read "fallen away from grace" as abandoning grace as the way of salvation for the law, and say that those who do so finally show they were never truly regenerate.

"That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (eph-2-8)

The view reads salvation by grace through faith, faith included, as God's gift to the elect.

"Not only by faith." The view teaches justification by faith alone. (james-2-24)

James denies that a man is justified by faith only.

That James speaks of works showing faith to be real, not of being justified before God.

The Reformed say "faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone": the faith Paul describes always produces the works James requires.

"Be thou faithful unto death": a warning to Christians. (rev-2-10)

If no true Christian can fall away, the warning seems unneeded.

That warnings like this are a means God uses to keep the elect faithful, not a sign that the elect could be lost.

The gospel the sinner hears begins with the sinner's need. (rom-3-23)

The Five Steps start at "hear," and what is heard first is that all have sinned. The steps are a response to this verse, not a substitute for it.

Eternal life is a free gift, received on God's terms. (rom-6-23)

Nothing in the steps purchases the gift. On this view they are how Scripture says the gift is received, as Naaman's dipping in the Jordan was how he received a healing he could never have earned (2 Kings 5:14).

Christ died first; every step is a response to the cross. (rom-5-8)

The love of God is shown before the sinner does anything. Belief, repentance, and baptism all look back to a death already died for the sinner.

"Hear" is the first step, and Paul says why: belief comes of hearing. (rom-10-14)

Paul lays out the chain in reverse: sent, preach, hear, believe, call. The Five Steps begin exactly where he says faith begins, with hearing "the word of Christ."

Belief is the second step and the root of every other. (john-3-16)

Without belief, repentance has no reason, confession is false, and baptism is a bath. The Five Steps hold that whoever believes will not perish, and that the believer obeys.

Repentance is named as its own step. (luke-13-3)

Jesus makes repentance a condition of not perishing, and the Five Steps list it by name, as Peter did at Pentecost (Acts 2:38) and Paul at Athens (Acts 17:30).

"Confess" is the fourth step, and Paul says it is "unto salvation." (rom-10-9)

Confession with the mouth and belief in the heart are both named. The Five Steps read "thou shalt be saved" as the promise attached to these two, alongside what the rest of the New Testament joins to them, not as a list of everything required.

Calling on the Lord's name is joined to baptism in Acts. (rom-10-13)

Paul quotes Joel 2:32. Peter quoted the same prophecy at Pentecost (Acts 2:21), and when his hearers asked what to do, he answered, "Repent ye, and be baptized." Ananias told Saul, "be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). On the Five Steps, a person calls on the Lord by obeying him.

Believing gives the right to become a child of God. (john-1-12)

John says believers receive "the right to become" children of God, not that they already are. The Five Steps hold that the believer becomes a child of God when "born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5), "sons of God, through faith... baptized into Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27).

A person comes into Christ's death in baptism, and rises to new life. (rom-6-3)

Paul says those "baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death," and buried with him "through baptism." Newness of life follows. This is the view's account of baptism stated by Paul himself.

Faith and baptism stand together: sons through faith, clothed with Christ in baptism. (gal-3-26)

Paul does not set faith against baptism. The Galatians are sons of God "through faith," and the proof he gives is that as many as were baptized into Christ put on Christ.

"Baptism doth now save you." (1pet-3-21)

Peter denies that baptism saves as a washing of the body, and affirms that it saves as "the interrogation of a good conscience toward God" (an appeal or pledge to God), and only "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." The power is Christ's; the moment is baptism.

Believing and baptism, then "shall be saved." (mark-16-16)

The view takes the verse at its word: salvation is promised to the one who believes and is baptized. That condemnation is attached to disbelief alone is expected, since one who does not believe will not be baptized.

The verse Walter Scott built his list from. (acts-2-37)

The hearers "heard," were "pricked in their heart" (they believed), and were told to repent and be baptized "unto the remission of your sins." Every step but confession is in these two verses. Scott's list also kept the promise at the end, "the gift of the Holy Spirit," which the Five Steps as taught today no longer name.

Preaching Jesus included baptism; the eunuch asked for it at the first water. (acts-8-35)

Philip "preached unto him Jesus," and the eunuch's first request is to be baptized. Hearing leads straight to the water.

One caution for the confession step: the eunuch's confession, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (verse 37), is missing from the oldest manuscripts, and the ASV leaves it out of the text. Confession before baptism stands on Romans 10:9-10, Matthew 10:32, and 1 Timothy 6:12, not on this verse.

Believe, the word spoken, baptized immediately, then rejoicing. (acts-16-30)

Paul's first answer is "believe," and the very next thing recorded is the word of the Lord spoken to the jailer's house. They were baptized "the same hour of the night... immediately," and only then is the jailer said to rejoice, "having believed in God."

A praying believer was told to be baptized to wash away his sins. (acts-22-16)

Saul had met the risen Lord, believed, fasted, and prayed for three days ("behold, he prayeth," 9:11). Ananias still told him, "be baptized, and wash away thy sins." Forgiveness came where the Five Steps place it.

Paul says salvation is "not of works." A list of steps can sound like one. (eph-2-8)

Critics say a plan that requires baptism and a faithful life has made salvation depend on things a person does. The view must show that the steps are not the works Paul excludes.

That baptism and continued faithfulness are not among the "works" of Ephesians 2:9: they are the obedience of faith, not deeds one could boast of.

Paul calls baptism "the working of God" (Colossians 2:12) and says God saved us "not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but... through the washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5). The works Paul excludes are those a man could boast of, and no one boasts of being buried by someone else.

Faith that obeys is the faith that justifies. (james-2-24)

James says Abraham's "faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect" (2:22). The Five Steps treat repentance, confession, and baptism as faith acting, which is the faith James calls living.

"Live faithfully" is the sixth step, and the crown is given at the end. (rev-2-10)

Jesus speaks to Christians and promises the crown of life to those faithful "unto death." The view does not treat baptism as the end of the matter. It teaches that a saved person must stay faithful.

The Road's first stop. (rom-3-23)

The plan begins with universal sin, in Paul's own words.

Death is the wage; life is the gift. (rom-6-23)

The second stop, and one of the clearest statements of grace in Scripture.

Christ died for sinners before they turned to him. (rom-5-8)

The third stop, and the heart of the gospel the Road presents.

The Road is preaching, and belief comes of hearing it. (rom-10-14)

Taken from the same chapter as its closing verses, and the Road itself is a way of bringing "the word of Christ" to a hearer.

Whoever believes will not perish. (john-3-16)

The Road's call to believe in the heart (Romans 10:9) is the belief Jesus speaks of here.

Jesus says "except ye repent," but none of the Road's verses name repentance. (luke-13-3)

In its common form the Road runs 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9-10, 10:13, and none of those verses says "repent." Nor do the four Hyles named (3:10, 3:23, 5:12, 5:8). A seeker who follows only the Road's verses is never told to repent.

That repentance is contained in believing and calling, so it need not be named.

Those who use the Road usually explain repentance as they go, and some add Romans 2:4 ("the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance"). Turning to God in faith, they say, already includes turning from sin.

The Road's destination: confess and believe, and "thou shalt be saved." (rom-10-9)

The Road takes this verse as the moment of salvation. The verse does promise salvation to the one who confesses and believes. Whether that promise is complete before baptism is what the baptism passages and the conversions in Acts test.

The Road's closing verse: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (rom-10-13)

Read on its own, the verse promises salvation to whoever calls, which is the Road's offer. What calling on his name looked like for converts in Acts, where Ananias told a praying Saul to "be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name," is tested at Acts 22:16.

Receiving Christ is believing on his name. (john-1-12)

John defines "received him" as "believe on his name," which is the Road's call.

One chapter after Romans 5:8, Paul says a person comes into Christ's death through baptism. (rom-6-3)

The Road walks through chapters 3, 5, 6, and 10 but passes over 6:3-4. Paul says those baptized into Christ "were baptized into his death" and "buried therefore with him through baptism." The Road places union with Christ at the moment of belief, before baptism.

That "baptized into Christ" here means the Spirit's baptism at the moment of faith, or that water baptism only pictures a union already complete.

Many Baptist interpreters read water baptism here as a picture of the death and burial the believer has already shared by faith, as a wedding ring pictures a marriage already made. Paul's point in chapter 6, they note, is holy living, not how to be saved.

"As many as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ." (gal-3-26)

Paul says the Galatians put on Christ in baptism. On the Road, a person is in Christ before baptism.

That "baptized into Christ" is the Spirit's work at the moment of faith (1 Corinthians 12:13), not baptism in water.

Verse 26 says "sons of God, through faith." Proponents read verse 27 as describing what faith does, with baptism the outward sign.

Peter says baptism "doth now save you." The Road says a person is saved before it. (1pet-3-21)

The plain statement is that baptism saves, through the resurrection of Christ. Peter guards it from being misunderstood ("not the putting away of the filth of the flesh"), but he denies that it is a bath, not that it saves. On the Road, baptism saves no one: the person baptized was saved already.

Proponents read "after a true likeness" (a figure, or antitype) as making baptism the picture of salvation, as the ark pictured it, and say the reality that saves is the appeal of the conscience to God, which is made in faith before baptism.

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved": salvation follows both. (mark-16-16)

Jesus puts belief and baptism together and the promise after them. The Road puts the promise after belief and moves baptism after salvation.

Proponents note that condemnation is attached only to disbelief, so baptism, they say, is the expected mark of a believer rather than a condition. Many also note that the oldest manuscripts end Mark at 16:8, which leaves this verse in doubt.

Believers asked what to do and were told: repent and be baptized unto remission of sins. (acts-2-37)

The crowd already believed; they were "pricked in their heart." Peter did not tell them to pray or to confess and believe and be saved. He told them to repent and be baptized "unto the remission of your sins." The Road places remission before baptism. Peter placed it after.

Some proponents read "unto" (Greek eis) as "because of": be baptized because your sins have already been remitted. Critics answer that Jesus used the same words of his blood, "poured out for many unto remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28), where "because of" cannot be the meaning.

Philip "preached unto him Jesus," and the eunuch asked to be baptized, not to pray. (acts-8-35)

Nothing in the text has Philip mention baptism, yet the eunuch's first request on hearing Jesus preached is for the water. Preaching Jesus, as Philip did it, included baptism. A presentation of Jesus that ends in a prayer would not have raised the question at all.

That preaching Jesus can stop short of baptism, and that baptism here followed a salvation already complete.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." (acts-16-30)

As plain an answer to the question as the Road gives. It is worth seeing what followed in the same hour: the word was spoken to the jailer's house, and they were baptized "immediately," in the middle of the night, before the jailer is said to rejoice "having believed."

Saul had believed and prayed for three days; his sins were still to be washed away. (acts-22-16)

If a person is saved when he believes and calls on the Lord in prayer, Saul was saved on the road to Damascus or in the three days of prayer after it ("behold, he prayeth," 9:11). Yet Ananias told him, "why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins." A praying believer was not yet forgiven.

Proponents read "wash away thy sins" as figurative, the outward picture of a cleansing Saul received when he believed. In this reading "calling on his name" is the saving act and baptism is its sign.

By grace through faith, not of works. (eph-2-8)

A central text for the Road's theology. Salvation is God's gift received by faith.

"Not only by faith." The Road promises salvation on believing and calling. (james-2-24)

James denies that a man is justified by faith only. The Road offers salvation at the moment of believing and confessing, before any act of obedience.

That James speaks of being justified before men (works showing that faith is real), not before God.

Proponents say Paul and James answer different errors. Paul answers works of law offered as merit; James answers a profession of faith with no life in it. The faith that saves (Paul) is the faith that works (James), and the Road calls for that faith.

The second law, in Paul's words. (rom-3-23)

"All of us sin, and our sin has separated us from God." The booklet cites this verse for it.

Cited under the second law. (rom-6-23)

Sin's wage is death, which is the separation the second law describes.

Cited under the third law: Christ is God's provision for sin. (rom-5-8)

Christ died for us while we were sinners, which is the heart of the third law.

The booklet is a way of bringing the word to a hearer. (rom-10-14)

Each law is supported from Scripture, and the reader hears before being asked to respond.

Cited under the first law. (john-3-16)

God's love for the world, and eternal life for whoever believes.

The booklet names repentance. (luke-13-3)

Receiving Christ, the booklet says, "involves turning to God from self (repentance)."

The prayer confesses Jesus as "Savior and Lord." (rom-10-9)

The suggested prayer is a spoken confession of Jesus as Lord, joined with trust in him.

Whoever calls on the Lord will be saved. (rom-10-13)

Read on its own, the verse fits the booklet's invitation. Whether calling on the Lord is a prayer in place of baptism is tested at Acts 22:16, where Saul was told to be baptized "calling on his name."

The fourth law's own verse: "as many as received him." (john-1-12)

The verse supports receiving Christ. It also says what receiving means: "them that believe on his name." The booklet's further step, that receiving means inviting him in with a prayer, comes from Revelation 3:20, tested below.

The prayer's "open the door" comes from a letter to a church. (rev-3-20)

The words are spoken to "the angel of the church in Laodicea" (3:14), to Christians grown lukewarm, whom Christ will "spew out" unless they repent (3:16, 19). The booklet makes it the moment an unbeliever first receives Christ.

That a call to a lukewarm church describes how the unconverted are first saved.

Cru reads the verse as a picture of Christ's invitation to anyone, noting that "if any man" widens the offer beyond the church.

Paul says a person comes into Christ's death through baptism. (rom-6-3)

The booklet places union with Christ at the prayer. Paul says those "baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death" and were "buried therefore with him through baptism."

Proponents read water baptism here as a picture of a death and burial the believer has already shared by faith.

"As many as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ." (gal-3-26)

Paul says the Galatians put on Christ in baptism. On the booklet's terms, Christ came in at the prayer.

Peter says baptism "doth now save you." The booklet does not mention it. (1pet-3-21)

Peter says baptism saves, through Christ's resurrection, as an appeal of a good conscience toward God. In the booklet, salvation is complete at the prayer and baptism has no place in it.

Proponents read "after a true likeness" as making baptism a figure of salvation, as the ark was, and say the appeal of the conscience to God is made in faith before baptism.

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (mark-16-16)

Jesus joins belief and baptism and puts the promise after both. The booklet gives the promise after a prayer.

Proponents note that condemnation is attached only to disbelief, and that the oldest manuscripts end Mark at 16:8.

Believers were told to repent and be baptized unto remission of sins, not to pray. (acts-2-37)

The crowd already believed. Peter's answer to "what shall we do?" has no prayer in it: repent and be baptized "unto the remission of your sins." The booklet's answer to the same question is a prayer, with remission at the prayer.

Some proponents read "unto" (eis) as "because of." Critics answer that Matthew 26:28 uses the same words of Christ's blood "unto remission of sins," where that cannot be the meaning.

Philip preached Jesus; the eunuch asked for baptism, not a prayer. (acts-8-35)

The eunuch's first request on hearing Jesus preached is for water. Preaching Jesus, as Philip did it, led to baptism. The booklet's presentation leads to a prayer.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." (acts-16-30)

The answer supports trust in Christ. What followed in the same hour was the word spoken and the household baptized "immediately," not a prayer.

Saul had believed and prayed for three days; his sins were still to be washed away. (acts-22-16)

If Christ comes in at a prayer, Saul was saved while "he prayeth" (9:11). Ananias told him instead, "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins." The booklet's prayer takes the place this verse gives to baptism.

Proponents read "wash away thy sins" as figurative, the outward picture of a cleansing already received by faith, with "calling on his name" the saving act.

Cited under the fourth law. (eph-2-8)

Salvation by grace through faith, not of works, is the booklet's ground for saying Christ is received by trust, not earned.

"Not only by faith." The booklet promises salvation on receiving Christ in prayer. (james-2-24)

James denies justification by faith only. The booklet offers it at the moment of trust expressed in prayer.

Proponents say Paul and James answer different errors: Paul, works offered as merit; James, a faith with no life. The prayer asks Christ to "take control of the throne of my life," which they say looks for the living faith James requires.

The Father draws by teaching, and those who hear and learn come. (john-6-44)

Verse 45 explains verse 44: "they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me." The Five Steps begin with hearing for this reason.

"As many as were ordained to eternal life believed." (acts-13-48)

Walter Scott set his five points against the five points of Calvinism, and the view denies that God chose individuals unconditionally. Read flatly, Luke says God's appointment came first and belief followed.

That "ordained" (Greek tetagmenoi, "set in order, disposed") describes Gentiles who were ready for eternal life, in contrast to the Jews who "judge yourselves unworthy" (verse 46), not an eternal decree.

The same verb is used of people who "appointed" or "set themselves" to a task (1 Corinthians 16:15, "set themselves to minister"), and Luke's contrast in verses 46-48 is between two responses to the word.

God wants every person saved. (1tim-2-3)

The view offers the gospel to everyone and holds that anyone who hears can obey.

The Spirit's call, spoken through the word, can be resisted. (acts-7-51)

The view holds that the Spirit calls through the preached word, and that people can and do refuse it.

Buried and raised with Christ in baptism, through faith. (col-2-12)

Paul joins baptism and faith, and calls it "the working of God," which is the view's answer to the charge that baptism is a human work.

Each soul answers for its own sin. (ezek-18-20)

The view denies that infants inherit guilt. A child has no sin to repent of, so the steps begin when a person is old enough to hear and believe.

The kingdom already belongs to little children. (matt-19-14)

Jesus blesses the children without baptizing them, and says the kingdom belongs to such. The view holds that children are safe, and baptism is for those who can believe and repent.

When they believed, they were baptized, men and women. (acts-8-12)

Hearing, belief, then baptism, in the order the steps give.

A Christian who sins repents and prays to the Lord. (acts-8-22)

The view teaches that a baptized believer who sins is not baptized again but repents and prays, as Peter told Simon. That Peter added "if perhaps" shows that a Christian can be in danger of being lost.

Christians confess their sins to God and are forgiven. (1john-1-9)

Part of living faithfully: the Christian keeps confessing sin, and God keeps forgiving it.

Christ gives the apostles authority to forgive and retain sins. (john-20-23)

The view has no priest who absolves and must say what authority the apostles received.

That the apostles forgive and retain sins by declaring the gospel's terms, as Peter did in Acts 2:38, not by absolving individuals.

Within weeks Peter used this authority in public, telling believers how their sins would be remitted (Acts 2:38). No apostle is recorded hearing a private confession and pronouncing absolution.

A Christian can fall away from grace. (gal-5-4)

Paul writes to Christians who were "severed from Christ." This is why the view adds "live faithfully" as a step.

The Father draws people through teaching. (john-6-44)

The Road is a way of teaching the word, and verse 45 says those who hear and learn come.

"Whosoever shall call": the offer is to all. (1tim-2-3)

The Road offers salvation to every hearer, which fits God's will that all be saved.

Buried and raised with Christ "in baptism." (col-2-12)

The Road places burial and resurrection with Christ at faith, before baptism. Paul places them in baptism, through faith.

That baptism here only pictures a burial and resurrection already complete.

Believers baptized after believing. (acts-8-12)

Those who use the Road baptize believers, after they believe.

The Father draws people through teaching. (john-6-44)

The booklet teaches before it invites, and verse 45 says those who hear and learn come.

"God loves you": the offer is to every reader. (1tim-2-3)

The first law addresses everyone, which fits God's will that all be saved.

Buried and raised with Christ "in baptism." (col-2-12)

The booklet places new life at the prayer. Paul places burial and resurrection with Christ in baptism, through faith.

Promised Paradise without baptism, though the view holds baptism necessary. (luke-23-42)

Trent declares baptism necessary for salvation. The thief was never baptized.

That God is not bound by his sacraments, so that one who could not be baptized may be saved by "baptism of desire" or "of blood" (Catechism §1258-1260).

The Spirit was given before baptism. (acts-10-44)

The view teaches that the Spirit is given in baptism. Here he falls before it.

That the Spirit's falling was an extraordinary sign that the Gentiles were to be received, which is why Peter still commanded baptism at once.

Faith in Christ, and Paradise that same day. (luke-23-42)

The thief believed and was saved with no baptism and no works. The view takes him as proof that the believer is justified by faith.

The Spirit given before baptism, to those who believed. (acts-10-44)

Peter later says God gave them the Holy Spirit, "cleansing their hearts by faith" (15:8-9). On the view they were saved when they believed, and baptized after.

The thief was promised Paradise without baptism. (luke-23-42)

The view says baptism is where sins are remitted. The thief was saved without it.

That the thief lived and died before Christ's death put the new covenant in force: "a testament is of force where there hath been death" (Hebrews 9:16-17). The command to be baptized came after the resurrection (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16), and no one could be buried with Christ into a death that had not yet happened (Romans 6:3-4).

During his life Jesus forgave sins directly (Mark 2:5, Luke 7:48). The thief is one more case of that, not a pattern for those converted after Pentecost, none of whom in Acts is saved the thief's way.

The Spirit fell on Cornelius's house before they were baptized. (acts-10-44)

If the gift of the Spirit follows baptism (Acts 2:38), Cornelius's house received it first. The view must explain why.

That this outpouring was a miraculous sign, given to convince Jewish believers that Gentiles could be received (11:15-18), not the moment of salvation, since Peter still commanded baptism.

The angel had told Cornelius that Peter would speak "words, whereby thou shalt be saved" (11:14), and those words ended in the command to be baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ." Peter compares the event to Pentecost, "as on us at the beginning" (11:15), not to any later conversion.

A sinner calls on Jesus and is saved the same day. (luke-23-42)

The thief's request is the kind of call the Road leads to, and he is promised Paradise with no baptism.

The Spirit was given before baptism. (acts-10-44)

The household received the Spirit while hearing, and was baptized afterward, which fits the Road's order.

"Jesus, remember me": a prayer, and Paradise. (luke-23-42)

The nearest thing in the Gospels to a sinner's prayer, answered with a promise of salvation.

The Spirit was given while they heard. (acts-10-44)

Cornelius's household received the Spirit on hearing and believing, before baptism.

More illuminations · Harbinger's Lamp