How do you respond when asked, "Have You Been Saved?"

Many Protestants — particularly Evangelicals and Pentecostals — engage in missionary activity by directly asking people, “Have you been saved?,” or “Have you been born again?” (This refers to John 3:5, in which Jesus says, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”)

Sometimes a simple answer will suffice, such as “Yes, I have, but thank you for asking,” or “Yes, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

However, some evangelizers will continue to press the point — especially if they discover that one is a Catholic (for they frequently consider it their personal duty to “enlighten” Catholics and to rescue them from their spiritual “slavery” in what they consider a false church). Therefore, Catholics should know what the Church teaches on the topic of salvation.

CATHOLIC RESPONSE: Salvation is a free gift from God, offered to us through His Son Jesus Christ. Being baptized with water in the name of the Holy Trinity (see Matthew 28:19) allows us to share in the saving death and resurrection of the Lord.

Contrary to what some Protestants suggest, this is not a once-and-for-all event. Rather, salvation is an ongoing process, one which requires our active and continuing baptism cooperation with God’s grace.

Baptism makes us part of God’s family, but it is quite possible for us, knowingly and deliberately, to reject our heavenly inheritance through serious and unrepented sin. Therefore, we must humbly and actively use divine grace to overcome our sins and to be made ready for eternal life with God.

If we have been baptized, but have not been living out our Christian calling as God desires, it’s not necessary to be “born again,” as if we were experiencing baptism a second time. We have already been born again in baptism (and this sacrament cannot be repeated); we simply need to undergo a conversion process, and to begin using God’s grace to live up to our spiritual and moral responsibilities.

Here are some Scriptural passes supporting the Catholic view:

Romans 6:4 - “We were therefore buried with Him [Christ Jesus] through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” COMMENT: Baptism gives us a share in Christ’s saving death and resurrection, and one who has been baptized does not later need to be “born again.”

Philippians 2:12-13 - “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” COMMENT: Paul indicates that salvation is an ongoing process which must be taken very seriously.

Philippians 3:10-12 - “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” COMMENT: Paul does not consider that he has already obtained salvation; his ongoing and active cooperation with God’s grace is necessary.

Matthew 7:21-24 - “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’ Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” COMMENT: Salvation can be lost even by persons who minister in Christ’s Name — so we must continually strive to be faithful to Him.

Romans 2:6-7 - “God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.” COMMENT: We must persevere in using God’s grace and in doing good if we are to reach heaven.

Ephesians 4:27 - “Do not give the devil a foothold.” COMMENT: This advice would be unnecessary if Christians had already achieved their salvation while here on earth; Satan’s temptations are dangerous precisely because it’s always possible for us to reject God’s love.

2 Timothy 4:9-10 - “Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me...” COMMENT: Demas was once a missionary companion of Paul (see Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 24), but he abandoned his calling from God.

1 John 2:19 - “They [many antichrists] went out from us [the Church], but they did not really belong to us.” COMMENT: Even being a member of the Church does not guarantee salvation.

A few final thoughts
The Church’s teaching on salvation is very simple and quite scriptural: Through baptism, we are born again of water and the Holy Spirit (see John 3:5), thereby sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection (see Romans 6:3-14), and if we remain in God’s grace, we will one day enter His kingdom.

Fr. Joseph Esper, has a book on apologetics due out this Spring. He is pastor of St. Edwards-on-the-Lake Church in Lakeport, Michigan.

 

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