Is it better to say 'I was saved' or 'I was made righteous'?
It is more appropriate to say 'I was made righteous' when one believed, because that is exactly what God did—He imputed the righteousness of Christ to the believer. The term 'saved' is not discounted, but 'made righteous' more precisely describes what occurred at salvation.
Les explains that after a conversation about the words 'saved' and 'righteous,' he agreed that it is almost more appropriate to say 'I was made righteous when I believed' rather than simply 'I was saved.' He does not take anything away from the word 'saved,' but asks what happened when we were saved: we were made righteous. God imputed the righteousness of Christ to us when we believed. Yet Les also stresses what had to happen first: we had to call upon Him and verbalize our belief, saying, 'Lord, I believe that you died for me, that you were buried and rose from the dead, and that your shed blood is payment for my sin.' He says not to just assume God can read your mind, though He can. The passage then says whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved, and verse 14 asks how they shall call on Him in whom they have not believed, and how they shall believe in Him of whom they have not heard.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
More Questions
What happens when you are saved?
When a person is saved, what actually happened is that they were made righteous.