What must I do to be saved?

Salvation & the GospelIn theological review

The short answer

Believe in the Lord Jesus: that is the answer Paul and Silas gave the Philippian jailer who asked this exact question. In the New Testament that believing always comes joined with repentance, turning from sin to God, and it shows itself at once in baptism and a changed life. There is no further qualification to earn first.

The fuller answer

The Bible answers this question in almost these exact words, because a frightened man once asked it. In Philippi, after an earthquake opened his prison, the jailer fell trembling before Paul and Silas and asked what he must do to be saved. Their answer was not a course to complete, a debt to pay, or a standard of goodness to reach first. It was a person to trust. That same answer, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, is the consistent answer of the New Testament wherever the question is honestly asked, and it is still the whole answer today.

Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized. Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

Acts 16:30-34 (BSB)

The reply was: believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. Read the whole scene, because it shows what that believing looked like in practice. The word of the Lord was spoken to the household, the jailer washed the prisoners' wounds, he and his family were baptised that same night, and he rejoiced, having believed in God. Faith was immediate and it was active, turning a brutalised workplace into a table of rejoicing within hours. Nothing was postponed until he became a better man. He believed, and the believing changed him on the spot.

“The time is fulfilled,” He said, “and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”

Mark 1:15 (BSB)

Jesus himself opened his preaching with the same two movements: the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. Repentance and faith are two sides of one turning. Repentance turns away from sin and self rule; faith turns toward Christ and trusts his word. Neither half works alone as the Bible describes it. A sorrow that never trusts Christ ends in despair, and a claimed faith that never turns from sin is not the faith Jesus calls for. Together they describe simply coming to him as you are, and not staying as you were.

testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 20:21 (BSB)

Paul later summarised his whole ministry as testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the complete pattern, and it deliberately excludes additions. Not repent and be good enough first. Not believe and add your own righteousness to Christ's. If you are asking this question seriously, the next step is not complicated: turn from your sin, trust Jesus Christ who died and rose for sinners, tell him so in honest prayer, and tell other Christians, who will baptise you and teach you to follow him.

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Review status: in-theological-review. Every Contend page passes a human theological review against the Statement of Faith before it is published as approved teaching. This section is in that queue.

Dig deeper

No answer here is a dead end. Follow the question on, test it in practice, or work the method yourself on the Dig deeper page.

How can I be saved?By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by anything you contribute. Ephesians says it outright: it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. To be saved is to turn from your sin, confess Jesus as Lord, and trust that God raised him from the dead for you. The rest of your life is learning to live from that gift.Is there a sinner's prayer in the Bible?No, the Bible contains no set sinner's prayer and never tells anyone to repeat a form of words to be saved. It shows people crying to God for mercy in their own words, like the tax collector in Luke 18, whom Jesus declared justified. The guided sinner's prayer is a modern practice: useful when it voices real repentance and faith, but the words themselves do not save anyone.What is repentance?Repentance is a change of mind about sin and about God that turns into a change of direction. Peter's command joins both halves: repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away. It is more than feeling sorry, which can evaporate by morning. It is agreeing with God about your sin, grieving it, and leaving it, trusting the mercy that meets you on the way back.What is the gospel?The gospel is the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ: he died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. It is news before it is advice: a death that pays for sin, a resurrection that proves it, and a living Lord who is to be confessed, believed, and followed.Do I have to be baptised to be saved?Christians differ on this question, and the texts they cite are set out fairly below. All agree baptism is commanded by Christ and must never be treated as optional or unimportant. They differ over whether the New Testament makes baptism a necessary condition of salvation, or the sign and seal of a salvation received by faith.Bible Character: PaulThe Pharisee who persecuted the church until the risen Jesus stopped him on the Damascus road, and who became his apostle to the Gentiles, travelling the Roman world and writing many of the New Testament letters.Bible Character: JesusThe Son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem, who preached the kingdom of God, was crucified for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was raised on the third day.