Can a bad person get saved? This question has often baffled many Christians who, at one time or another, started putting up qualifiers and other criteria in their minds regarding who can be saved. But seriously, can bad people be saved?
The Bible simply says "yes."
How come it baffled us?
Sometimes we can know in our head that any person can be saved, but we just can't believe it in reality - especially if we're that 'any person'. We confess with our mouths that "Jesus saves," but in our minds we add "but" as a suffix to those two words. We place conditions where God doesn't.
Case in point: the people we don't like. We believe that Christ's atoning work is able to save even the worst sinner of all, but when it comes to the person we totally dislike, our belief regarding the matter changes. It suddenly goes from "yes" to "if he stops [insert unwanted habit, attitude, or action here]."
I know that some of us may not admit it, but many of us are guilty of this at some point in our Christian life. I admit I have, and I realized that I was totally wrong for putting conditions where God did not.
What does God say about it?
God, in His gracious, loving and patient person, decided to send the Lord Jesus Christ to save all of humanity. John 3:16-17 tells us,
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
The Lord Jesus came to save everyone, good or bad. He came to save all of humanity, from extremely rural communities to highly urbanized neighborhoods. He came to save us all from sin, for all us are sinners. Romans 5:6-8 tells us,
"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
So, can a bad person be saved?
So, dear friends, we go back to the question: can a bad person be saved? Well, if we define "bad" as "carnal and in sin," and "be saved" as "enter heaven," then of course not. We can't be Christian and live an ungodly life and still expect to be given entry to God's Kingdom (see Matthew 7:23; 1 Corinthians 6:9).
But if we define "bad" as "ungodly" and "saved" as "delivered and rescued," then yes. Christ came to rescue us from our sin and deliver us from bondage to sin. He came to save all of us from sin, who happened to be our master before He saved us.
All of us, religiously good or devilishly bad, have fallen into sin. Romans 3:23 is our equalizer, telling us that we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We're all separated from God because of our sin, no matter who we are.
The Lord Jesus Himself said, "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:5)
Regardless of who we are and what we do, whether our history is something we'd rather not talk about or something we can be proud of, the truth remains that we're all in need of the salvation of Christ. And this salvation can only be attained through repentance.
There's no good or bad man here; only a people who would recognize and admit their need for Christ.
