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"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you---unless you believed in vain" (1Co.15:1,2 ESV). The Greek word used here for 'saved' can mean 'make whole'. This is addressed to us who have already become brothers and sisters in Christ through faith, reminding us that we need to hold fast to the word, if we want to continue to be made whole. Sadly, many preachers give the impression that if we have received forgiveness of our sins from God we are already saved (implying that there is nothing more to be done). Some others teach that we have been already made whole in the eyes of God.

Our destiny is to be seated in the heavenly places with Christ (Ep.2:6). But we are not there yet. Here, when Paul talks about us being in the heavenly places with Christ, he is talking about our position in Christ. We must be realistic enough to recognise and admit that we are still on earth now, being pulled and attracted by the things of this world. We are in this battle to overcome these temptations and make the choice to be pleasing to our Saviour. We should not be living now in a doctrinal bubble that tells us everything is fine with us, when actually we are facing the battle from our own lusts, the pull of the world and satanic deceptions.

We just have to ask ourselves if we are whole already. That would mean we have already become like Christ in every way, and all that is coming out from us is Christ-like! No, we haven't! We have been freely forgiven all our past sins, justified before God, and now we are being sanctified, which means we are being purified more and more, set apart for God more and more. The first step we need to do after we have been made children of God through grace is to realise that after having entered through the narrow gate, now it is the time to walk through the narrow path that leads to life (Mt.7:13,14).

How can we walk along this path? According to what we have quoted from Paul in the beginning, by holding fast to the word he has preached to us. The word of God is not for just giving us a broad understanding of salvation, but for helping us to take different steps on this path that leads to life. That is why it is called a 'lamp unto my feet' (Ps.119:105). Do we know the word enough to know these steps, or is our knowledge limited to a few verses we have heard from a preacher?

Do we want to be wholly saved, from every bondage in our life and from every un-Christ-like way we think, speak and behave? Then let us study God's word, and listen as God speaks to us personally. Let us also be serious students of the word, knowing how to put together God's truth from different parts of the Bible (2Ti.2:15). Let us be those who faithfully and humbly apply the truths to ourselves, willing to admit where we have been wrong and make changes of direction and practice.

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