We don’t need to keep walking down an aisle. We don’t need to keep “re-committing our life to Christ.” We don’t need multiple baptisms. All we need to do is rest in the knowledge that Christ committed himself to us once-and-for-all, and that is more than enough.
26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9: 26-29
Sure, we are called to continuous repentance. Sure, we are called to battle our sin. But our repentance and efforts — even our faith — are not the basis of our salvation. Our salvation is through faith (the instrument or means), but it is by the grace of Christ alone (the foundation and source). As Richard Phillips puts it:
Hebrews by Richard D. PhillipsIf we were saved by our faith, it would not be “once-for-all,” because our faith itself is not reliable or permanent. We wax and wane, sometimes weak and sometimes strong. “Once-for-all” is not an expression used for us — for our faith or for our repentance. You have not sinned for the last time, I am sorry to say. You have not experienced your last doubt, or shed your last tear for sin and failure.
But the good news of the gospel is that you are not saved by your faith, but by Christ. What cannot be said about you can be said of him. His death saves you, and that was once-for-all. His entry into heaven to minister for you there saves you, upholds your weak and wavering faith, and that is once-for-all. What is not once-for-all for you is once-for-all for him. Where, then, is peace to be found, a peace that lasts, a peace that is once-for-all? It is not in us, but in Christ. Yes, we must receive him by faith, but it is not upon our faith that salvation relies, but upon him, of whom it can be said, “once-for-all.”
