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GOD’S PLAN FOR MANKIND’S SALVATION

REDEMPTIONCORPS INTERNATIONAL believes, proclaims, and teaches that salvation is the gracious provision of God, freely offered to all humanity and received through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation cannot be earned through human merit, religious observance, or personal righteousness. All people are called to repent of their sins, receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and believe in His name. Those who willfully reject God's saving grace and persist in unbelief remain under condemnation and face eternal separation from God and the final judgment described in Scripture, including the place of punishment commonly called hell.

We believe that when a sinner repents, turns from sin, and receives the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, that person receives forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, deliverance from divine wrath, and the gift of eternal life. Through the saving work of Jesus Christ, God brings spiritual renewal and makes available His redemptive provision for healing, deliverance, restoration, and divine provision. We therefore proclaim the fullness of God's saving work and affirm that His promises are to be received by faith, pursued in prayer, and trusted in accordance with His Word. The manifestation of a particular promise may involve circumstances that believers do not fully understand; nevertheless, the Church must not omit the biblical promises of healing, restoration, and provision from its proclamation of the Gospel.

We further believe that salvation includes God's purpose to transform the believer into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. This transformation begins with the new life received through faith and continues through the work of the Holy Spirit, as the believer grows in holiness, obedience, spiritual maturity, and Christlike character in thought, word, and deed. God's saving purpose therefore encompasses not only deliverance from sin and judgment but also the renewal of the person and the restoration of fellowship with God.

THE BIBLICAL MEANING AND FULLNESS OF SALVATION

The Hebrew word shalom communicates peace, well-being, wholeness, harmony, and flourishing. Although shalom is not the Hebrew word from which the English word salvation is derived, it expresses dimensions of the peace and well-being associated with God's redemptive purposes.

The Greek verb sōzō, used throughout the New Testament, can mean to save, rescue, deliver, or heal, according to its context. Its usage in the ministry of Jesus and the teaching of the apostles demonstrates that God's saving power addresses humanity's need for forgiveness, deliverance, restoration, and, in appropriate contexts, physical healing. These words are not interchangeable in every passage, nor does every occurrence carry every possible meaning. Nevertheless, REDEMPTIONCORPS INTERNATIONAL believes, proclaims, and teaches the fullness of God's redemptive purpose as revealed through the whole counsel of Scripture.

We therefore proclaim salvation as God's gracious work through Jesus Christ, received by faith and bringing the believer into a restored relationship with God. This salvation establishes the foundation for spiritual renewal, the pursuit of holiness, the ministry of healing and deliverance, the expectation of God's provision, and the ultimate hope of resurrection and everlasting life. We declare this Gospel to all creation, calling all people to repentance, faith in Jesus Christ, and a life transformed by the power of God.

SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATIONS

1. Genesis 3:15 — The First Promise of Redemption

The Protoevangelium—the first biblical promise anticipating the defeat of the serpent and God's redemptive answer to humanity's Fall.

Genesis 3:15 (KJV)

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

2. John 3:15–16 — Eternal Life Through Faith in the Son

John 3:15–16 (KJV)

“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

3. 2 Peter 1:4–5 — Partakers of the Divine Nature and Growth in Godliness

2 Peter 1:4–5 (KJV)

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;”

4. John 1:12 — The Right to Become Children of God

John 1:12 (KJV)

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

5. John 10:27–30 — Eternal Life and the Security of Christ's Sheep

John 10:27–30 (KJV)

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

I and my Father are one.”

6. Romans 10:1–3 — Salvation and the Righteousness of God

Romans 10:1–3 (KJV)

“Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

7. John 5:24 — Passing From Death Unto Life

John 5:24 (KJV)

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

8. Romans 8:28–29, 35–39 — God's Purpose and the Believer's Conformity to Christ

Romans 8:28–29 (KJV)

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

Romans 8:35–39 (KJV)

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

9. Romans 11:29 — The Faithfulness of God's Gifts and Calling

Romans 11:29 (KJV)

“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

10. Ephesians 1:4–7, 12–14 — Adoption, Redemption, Forgiveness, and the Spirit's Seal

Ephesians 1:4–7 (KJV)

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”

Ephesians 1:12–14 (KJV)

“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

FORMAL DOCTRINAL DECLARATION

REDEMPTIONCORPS INTERNATIONAL declares that salvation is God's gracious provision for mankind, accomplished through Jesus Christ and received through faith. We proclaim the necessity of repentance, the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from divine wrath, the gift of eternal life, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.

We affirm that God's redemptive purpose encompasses the renewal of the whole person and that the Church must faithfully proclaim the biblical promises of healing, deliverance, restoration, and divine provision. We also affirm that God's purpose for every believer is conformity to the image of His Son in thought, word, and deed.

Accordingly, REDEMPTIONCORPS INTERNATIONAL calls all people to repent, believe the Gospel, receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and walk in the new life He provides. We proclaim this salvation to all creation, looking forward to the fulfillment of God's redemptive purpose in the resurrection of the dead, the final defeat of death, and the everlasting life of God's redeemed people.