Two Types of Salvation

“Why do Primitive Baptists teach that there are two types of salvation taught in the Bible? Is there any scripture to support that claim?”

          This is a request I recently received from a young brother new to the Primitive Baptists.  First, we should examine the context of the question. When Primitive Baptists explain our position that salvation is by grace alone and not by the works or merits of man, we often encounter people of other persuasions who will attempt to refute our position by submitting a text such as Mark 16:16 (“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned,”) which indicates that some condition is required for salvation. In this example, belief and baptism are requirements of salvation. The Primitive Baptist response is that scriptural context and appropriate application is necessary to rightly interpret the meaning of the passage. As part of this, we recognize that the eternal salvation from torment is not the only type of salvation that is discussed in scripture. Frequently, Primitive Baptists will continue on to explain that we believe in two types of salvation: eternal salvation and temporal [or time] salvation. Our assertion is that eternal salvation, which is defined as final and complete deliverance from sin and the torment of everlasting punishment, is accomplished by God entirely and with no help, permission, or even the necessity of acknowledgement by man. On the other hand, the various salvations that take place in time are very often impacted by either obedience or disobedience of man.

          There are many salvations discussed in the Bible. People can be saved from physical death, from being conquered by their enemies, from despair, from ignorance, from foolishness, from poverty, from worldly care, from God’s timely chastisement when we fail from day to day, from sickness, from evil men, and yes, from an eternity in torment. All of these and many others are various salvations in scripture. The Primitive Baptist position does not limit us to two salvations, but the Primitive Baptist position seeks to demonstrate that most of the salvations take place in the time of this life. Thus, all of these many salvations which are confined to this life are lumped together in the category of “temporal salvation” in an effort to distinguish them from the greatest salvation, which is salvation from the eternal judgment of God against sinners. This salvation takes place not just in the realm of time, but also in the realm of eternity, so it is therefore correctly referenced as “eternal salvation.”

          Can I support this assertion with scripture? Absolutely!  First, I will reason that various passages of scripture cannot be harmonized without this understanding. Then, I will provide examples of passages which have reference to eternal salvation and temporal salvation to help show the distinction.

Harmonizing Scripture

1. What is required for salvation? Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”  I Timothy 4:16 says, “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”  Taking heed to oneself and persevering would definitely be considered works of righteousness. But Paul said we are not saved by works of righteousness! If we only recognize one salvation, then we cannot reconcile these two texts! The only way to truly make these passages harmonize is to understand that they are speaking of salvation from different things. The verse in Titus was speaking about salvation from death in sin (an unregenerate state), while the passage in I Timothy is teaching that good works will save from ignorance, error, worldliness, and timely destruction.
2. Who does the saving? Acts 4:12 teaches “Neither is there salvation in any other [than Jesus Christ, from vs 10]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” However, the text previously quoted from I Timothy teaches that Timothy could save himself and them that hear him. Further, Nehemiah 9:27 records that God sent saviors (plural) to Israel to deliver them from captivity in the Old Testament. Is the Bible contradicting itself? No! These texts simply must be interpreted and applied to the correct salvations. For eternal salvation from sin, there is only one Savior: Jesus Christ. A claim that any other being is a savior of man from eternal punishment for sin is heresy and blasphemy. However, men frequently save themselves and each other from a multitude of dangers and can, in that sense, be understood as “little ‘s’” saviors.
3. Summary: There are many, many other passages that could be used, but I hope these will suffice to show that an understanding of multiple salvations is not simply common sense, but it is also biblically sound. It is a fundamental concept to properly interpret the many passages in the Bible which discuss the topic of salvation.

Examples

For each of the below examples, I will examine a few questions to make a determination of whether the salvation in the passage is temporal or eternal. I am not including the full narratives for the sake of space, but I encourage you to read the surrounding context to understand my answers to these questions.

Exodus 1:17 “But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”

• Who performed the action? The midwives.
• What was required for the salvation? The midwives feared God and acted righteously.
• What were they saved from? Physical death.
• Temporal or Eternal? Temporal!

Luke 7:50 “And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”

• Who performed the action? The woman.
• What was required for the salvation? The woman’s faithful act of washing Jesus’s feet with tears.
• What was she saved from? Internal striving, fear, and guilt.
• Temporal or Eternal? Temporal!

I Corinthians 15:1-2 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”

• Who performed the action? The preacher and the hearers.
• What was required for the salvation? Preaching of the gospel, believing it, and keeping it in memory.
• What were they saved from? Ignorance of the resurrection, emptiness in religion, and despair of death.
• Temporal or Eternal? Temporal!

I Peter 3:21 “…The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”

• Who performed the action? The person being baptized.
• What was required for the salvation? Baptism.
• What are we saved from? The timely judgment of God (in the pattern of Noah from verse 20), disobedient men, and the loss of fellowship with God.
• Temporal or Eternal? Temporal!

II Timothy 1:9 “Who [God] hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

• Who performed the action? Jesus.
• What was required for the salvation? The purpose and grace of God.
• What are we saved from? Ultimate death (saved to life and immortality, which is taught by the gospel in verse 10).
• Temporal or Eternal? Eternal!

Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

• Who performed the action? Jesus.
• What was required for the salvation? Justification by the blood of Jesus.
• What were we saved from? The wrath of God.
• Temporal or Eternal? Eternal!

In summary, I hope I have provided some clarification on what Primitive Baptists mean by “temporal” and “eternal” salvation. As a rule, if a passage of scripture places a condition on man to do something in order to be saved from something, that passage is always referring to a type of temporal salvation. We have found this fact to be true without exception, and this understanding is part of the foundation of correctly interpreting many scriptural texts.