Day 29: When were Jesus’ Disciples Saved?

Scriptural Nuggets Daily Devotion

 I really don’t have a straight answer to this question, but when you look at several events in their lives, you get a sense of the progression of their salvation as they live during a transition time between the Old Covenant and the New.

John 1:35-42 shows us that at least two of John the Baptizer’s disciples became followers of Jesus.  One of these two was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.  One of the requirements for being John’s disciple was to be baptized.  John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance (Mark 1:4).

Shortly after this period, Jesus began doing what John was doing, namely baptizing people. Actually, it was the disciples that did most of the baptizing (John 3:22-26, John 4:1).

The disciples obviously believed in Christ, though it wasn’t until after the resurrection that they understood what Christ was all about.

A key moment in their lives was when they received the Holy Spirit… no, it wasn’t in Acts 2:4, it was John 20:22.  Jesus breathes on his disciples and they receive the Holy Spirit.  This happens after the resurrection, and if you could put a New Covenant date of salvation on the disciples, this would be it.

We also receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved as a deposit guaranteeing our eternal reward (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5).

Receiving the Holy Spirit at salvation is only the first step in His involvement.  Acts 1:8, 2:4 tell us how he empowers us through the Spirit’s Baptism. This is not a salvation experience but an empowering experience.  We call the day of Pentecost the “birth of the Church”, but it should be more accurately called the “Empowering of the Church”.  The church already existed, though it was quite small.

One way of looking at the experience of salvation in the disciples’ lives is to see it as a slow motion movie of what a believer experiences today – Belief, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit, being empowered by the Holy Spirit.