Ephesians 1:3- 14 is a great starting place to demonstrate how God saves us. There are many passages besides this one that show the emphasis is on the Person of our salvation, rather than on a plan. Later on in this article I hope to show a comparison of the two views and to show that I am not merely carping at a mere issue of semantics.

We are saved by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (each to the praise of His glory - vss. 6, 12, 14).

SAVED BY THE FATHER

3. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

4. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

5. he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will —

6a. to the praise of his glorious grace,"

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This section begins and ends in praise to the Father. He is the source of our spiritual blessings in Christ. He chose us in Christ before we ever existed and before Christ came into the world. Since this is true, there was/will have been no deciding factor in our response to Him that could have prejudiced God in favoring us over others. It was all according to His good - and unfathomable - pleasure. For no reason that we can understand, He chose those of us who are (or will be) Christians, just so we could have the privilege of participating in His grace and in glorifying Him forever.

We are in Christ. This is an important point. In these twelve verses we find this union with Christ alluded to 11 or 12 times (if you count "in love" as also referring to being in Christ, as some do). Our election, benefits, sanctification, adoption and endless supply of grace come through our heavenly Portal, our ISP provider, Jesus Christ. If not, then we have lost (never had) our connection to the Head. Christ is our Portal, the way the truth and the life. He is our Intermediate Salvation Provider. There is no other mediator between between God and man, but Christ Jesus. He is also the perfect, eternal High Priest who not only saved us through His once-for-all sacrifice, but is interceding for us right now as you are reading this (Hebrews 7:25, John 17:20).
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SAVED BY THE SON

6b. "which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

8. that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

9. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

10. to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

11. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

12. in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory."

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1Cor. 1:30 states that "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." These are ongoing supplies of God's grace for us so that we can be overcomers and so that we can "put on Christ". A salvation that is nothing more than an initial flash of holiness (or whatever) but shows no lasting fruit whatever is highly suspect. The same Spirit of Christ that justifies us also makes us holy. The same Spirit that promises us a crown (salvation) also instructs and enables us to carry His cross. The same blood that redeems us (verse 7, cleanses our hearts from an evil, troubled conscience, so that we can serve Him out of love, and not a weight of obligation (Heb. 10:22; 2:14- 15; 1st John 4:17, 18).
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SAVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

13. "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

14. who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory."

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Noticeably absent in this lengthy section on our salvation is any mention of "our part" in the "plan of salvation". This is not a presentation of a plan with God's and man's part. It is a call to every human being to repent - and a revelation of the Son in the hearts of those whom God has chosen (in whatever circumstance or timing). We never have a part in our salvation. But we do have a responsibility: to repent. To use those phrases - "our part" and "God's part" - is to imply that salvation is not entirely all the Lord's doing (Jonah 2:9, Eph. 2;8- 10). God will not give His glory to anyone - including His saints. If any part of our salvation was our's then, to that degree, we would have reason to boast.

I am a firm believer in "Once saved, always saved", though I don't like the phrase, since it implies God's salvation is guaranteed to all those, even, who show no interest in their own salvation from this world, though they want to be free from going to Hell.
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WAY, NOT PLAN, OF SALVATION

A plan is foremost something written down or conceived in the mind. The way is demonstrated in a Person, in the Incarnation. Jesus Himself said that he is "the way, the truth and the life". Nowhere does He refer to Himself as part of a plan.

A plan can be accepted, rejected or modified. The person of Christ, as our only way to salvation, can be only accepted or rejected. Those whose thinking on salvation has been over-influenced by the plan paradigm, for instance, imagine levels of salvation according to how much of the plan we buy into. Zane Hodges, Claude Dillow and (albeit to a lesser degree) Charles Ryrie go in this category, seeing a distinction between the heirs of salvation (all Christians) and joint-heirs with Christ (the overcomers). Hodges see this first group as Christians, though they will have to go with gnashing of teeth into outer darkness. He also says that a saved person can come to the point of an absolute dead faith (James 2), cursing the way of salvation and it's adherents - and still be assured of heaven!

To emphasize a plan over the Person is to obscure the vital truth that, not only our initial entrance but, our ongoing fellowship and growth in grace is through the continual supply of Jesus Christ. He is our daily Bread. His presence in our lives makes His Word healing and instructive.

Those heretical notions of Zane Hodges and others like him (that is, that you can have a dead-yet-saving faith) can firmly be resisted when we realize that our salvation is in a Person, and not in a plan.

We are either in that Person or not.
We are either gathering or scattering.
We are either dead with Christ in His death or we are actually enemies of the cross of Christ.

Yes, there is sin in the life of all believers, but it is not so prevalent and persistent as to require a third category of beings in the spiritual realm: the unsaved, the Christian and "carnal Christian" (sic).

Part of this emphasis of plan over Person leads to the teaching that there are various, separate crowns as rewards, when they are actually just various ways of referring to our reward (singular) for truly believing in the free gift offered through Jesus Christ. All disciples of Christ get this crown.

Also "planners" tend to treat assurance in a different manner than the Bible does. How many times have we heard that assurance should be derived solely from what the Bible states?

"Did you pray that prayer?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you think God lied to you?"

"Well... no... but this is all too much at one time. I just don't understand...."

Such a person is often told that they just need to read the Bible and grow, when in fact Christ may not have been presented to that person or that person may not have been shown (by the Holy Spirit) his Real need for God's forgiveness.

I have even seen tracts that, in the same message, present Christ and then berate the reader (upon reading the prayer printed) that they were doubting God. This overlooks the fact that there has to be the working of God in that person. If Christ is presented merely as an "add-on" feature for the seeker's life, without the revelation that that person is a sinner against a holy God, whatever prayer that person says will avail him nothing. The first Beatitudes must be found in the person's life (poor in spirit, mourning) before the Cure can be appreciated.

Where does the Bible say that assurance comes from? The Word of God And a changed life (1st Peter 1, 2nd Cor. 13, etc.). "Present possession" of eternal life should not be assured to anyone who shows no ongoing proof of being a new creature. A dog may awkwardly walk on two legs and even (I saw this on TV) say something that sounds like "I love you", but unless he is able to continue this walk and this talk (and of course much more) his dogginess was never in doubt. Humanity requires surer proof.

The new creature will show surer proof. By emphasizing a plan over the Saviour, false assurance is given to many, who can point to a time, an aisle, a tract or a Christian worker (Matt 23:15) who told them the words to say and the prayer to pray.