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Answer:

This is a good question because there are number of scriptures that speak of salvation in different tenses. For example Paul can say “For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8.24) but also “But to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1.18) as well as “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15.11). The fact that the bible does speak in these three tenses actually gives us a clue as to the very nature of salvation. Salvation is something that has begun and has had a very definite inauguration, but is not something that is finished yet.

Paul writes in Romans 8 and says that God has justified us, and will bring us to glory. In 2 Corinthians it says that the ‘last enemy to be defeated is death’. So to understand why it’s spoken of it three tenses we must understand that what the bible refers to fully as salvation is to be brought to final glory, without any sin and looking like Jesus. At this time there will be no more tears, death or sin. This is the holistic view of salvation that we must understand.

The first part of salvation is what the bible refers to as justification and is what most Christians refer to as salvation. But this is only the first part! Justification is when Jesus declares you righteous in His sight because your sinful life has been punished in Jesus, and His perfect righteous life has been credited to your account. Once this has happened, it has happened and cannot be taken away. This is why the bible can say with such confidence that you have been saved. It’s a glorious truth! Yet even now in our lives we don’t see the full outworking of salvation as I described earlier.

But the bible also says that we are ‘being’ saved because right now you and I are being sanctified, which is the gradual transforming of our lives to become more and more like Jesus. This is a work of God, that happens as we yield our bodies to Him here. We mustn’t forget that any remaining sin in us is a remnant of our former selves and is a demonstration that we are not living in the fullness of freedom which we receive in Christ. When we sin we remind ourselves that we are not yet fully saved. Therefore, as God works in us by the power of the Holy Spirit we are being saved! This is what the bible means when it says this.

Finally, it says that one day we will be saved. This is the final outworking of our salvation that we will only receive when Jesus returns. 1 John says that when he appears, in a moment we will ‘become like him’ – literally being transformed into his image as the final outworking of our salvation. Then we will be perfect.

This is why salvation is spoken of in three tenses. You can rightly say that at this very moment, you are saved (you have been declared righteous by God), that you are being saved (as God continues to deliver you from the power of sin) and that you one day will be saved (when Jesus returns and the final enemy to be defeated is).