“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

When a student of the Bible comes across the topic of salvation, he should ask himself a few questions before drawing any conclusions. Just because the word “saved” means a certain thing in one verse, doesn’t guarantee the same meaning in another verse. The context is what is important.

Ask yourself:

Who is being saved? Who is doing the saving? From what are they being saved? To what are they being saved?

“Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” (Acts 27:31)

In this text, the men in the ship are being saved from death. They are saved by listening to Paul and staying in the ship.

This is clearly not eternal salvation.

“And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” (Acts 2:40)

Here, we see those listening to Peter will be saved if they do something. But their salvation is not to heaven, it is FROM the evils of the society in which they lived. Peter uses the gospel to save children of God from the pitfalls of conforming to the world.