Q. 47. How can you be saved from sin and begin your new life in the Church?

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Saved. Salvation begins in this life when we are justified (Q. 50) and adopted into God’s family (Q. 52): “by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). Salvation continues as we are delivered from sin through sanctification (Q. 53): “you are being saved” (1 Corinthians 15:2); “God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Salvation will not be complete until Christ returns and our bodies are glorified (Q. 56): “by God’s power [you] are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Those who are saved are also being saved and awaiting salvation.

New life. Salvation is more than a moment in which we are forgiven of our sins and assured of heaven when we die. It is a completely new life in the Spirit, characterized by holy, happy fellowship with God and his people.

Repent, believe. Salvation is a gift, offered to us in Christ, and received by faith alone; however, true faith cannot be separated from repentance. No one trusts in Christ for salvation from sin who is not truly sorry for sin and determined, by God’s grace, to walk in new obedience (see Q. 48).

And be baptized. Scripture does not separate repentance or faith from diligent use of the means of grace, especially water baptism (Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16). It is a great sin to neglect or show contempt for this ordinance of Christ (WCF 28.5), and no one should presume to be saved who refuses it. Nevertheless, saving grace is not so inseparably linked with baptism that no one is ever saved without it (Luke 23:43); not all who are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated (Acts 8:16, 23); and baptism alone does not guarantee our final salvation (1 Corinthians 10:1–5).

In his name. To be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to, in shorthand, as being “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:48), since it is through union with the Son in his death, burial, and resurrection that we enter into communion with the Holy Trinity.