Origin Of Evangelism Phrase Getting Lost Before Saved

The phrase "getting lost before saved" encapsulates a theological concept that emphasizes humanity's fallen state and need for redemption, a theme central to Christian evangelism. The term "evangelism" itself derives from the Greek evangelion, meaning "good message" or "good news," referring to the message of salvation through Christ ^{[1, 3]}. This "good news" presupposes a prior condition from which humanity needs to be saved.

The New Testament frequently presents humanity as "lost" or in need of salvation. Jesus states, "the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" ^[11]. This concept of being lost is not merely a state of ignorance but a condition of spiritual separation and peril. The Apostle Paul, in his letters, often contrasts humanity's former state of sin and death with the new life found in Christ. For instance, in 2 Timothy, God is described as having "saved us" and "called us" with a "holy calling," implying a prior state from which salvation was necessary ^[8]. This saving act, according to Paul, was part of God's eternal purpose of grace "before the world began" ^[8].

The idea of being "lost" is intrinsically linked to the concept of sin and its consequences. Proverbs 16:18 states, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an high minde before the fall," suggesting a path leading away from God ^[2]. The Gospel message, therefore, is presented as the solution to this lost condition. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, highlights the Gospel as a "new and extraordinary kind of embassy" through which God fulfills promises of salvation ^[4]. one tradition argues that while believers throughout history have experienced God's promises, the Gospel brings these promises to fruition in the person of the Son ^[4].

The necessity of salvation from a lost state is also evident in the call to repentance. Christ and John the Baptist both exhorted people to repentance, stating that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" ^[5]. This sequence—repentance followed by the announcement of the kingdom—suggests a turning away from a previous, undesirable state. Charles Hodge, in his Systematic Theology, notes that the Gospel, as taught by Christ and the Apostles, was directed against the errors of human merit and ritualism, emphasizing that salvation is not earned but received ^[6]. He further asserts that the plan of salvation has always been consistent, with the same promise, Savior, condition, and salvation, implying a continuous need for deliverance from a lost state ^[9].

The Athanasian Creed, an ecumenical statement of faith, underscores the gravity of this lost state by declaring, "Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly" ^[7]. This statement highlights the eternal consequences of not being "saved," reinforcing the idea of a lost condition that leads to perishing.

The concept of being "lost" also informs discussions around baptism. While some traditions have debated the role of baptism in salvation, the underlying assumption remains that individuals are in a state requiring spiritual renewal. Calvin, for example, discusses the idea that "no man, until renewed by living water, that is, by the Spirit, can enter the kingdom of God," which implies a prior state of being outside this kingdom ^[10]. He also critiques the notion that all unbaptized individuals are consigned to eternal death, yet the discussion itself presumes a need for spiritual transformation to avoid being lost ^[10].

Sources

Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Gospels — The central fact of Christian preaching was the intelligence that the Saviour had come into the world (Matt. 4:23; Rom. 10:15); and the first Christian preachers who called their account of the person and mission of Christ by the term evangelion_ (= good message) were called _evangelistai (= evangelists) (Eph. 4:11; Acts 21:8). There are four historical accounts of the person and work of Christ: "the first by Matthew, announcing the Redeemer as the promised King of the kingdom of God; the second by Mark, declaring him a prophet, mighty in deed and word'; th”
Proverbs “Proverbs 16:18 (Geneva1599) — Pride goeth before destruction, and an high minde before the fall.”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Gospel — A word of Anglo-Saxon origin, and meaning "God's spell", i.e., word of God, or rather, according to others, "good spell", i.e., good news. It is the rendering of the Greek evangelion, i.e., "good message." It denotes (1) "the welcome intelligence of salvation to man as preached by our Lord and his followers. (2.) It was afterwards transitively applied to each of the four histories of our Lord's life, published by those who are therefore called Evangelists', writers of the history of the gospel (the evangelion). (3.) The term is often used to express collecti”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 45: light through the Gospel,” ( 2 Tim. 1:10 ). Paul does not mean by these words that the Fathers were plunged in the darkness of death before the Son of God became incarnate; but he claims for the Gospel the honourable distinction of being a new and extraordinary kind of embassy, by which God fulfilled what he had promised, these promises being realised in the person of the Son. For though believers have at all times experienced the truth of Paul’s declaration, that “all the promises of God in him are yea and amen,” inasmuch as these”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 58: by the tree, have never understood its nature, and are moved to adopt that view on very insufficient grounds. 2. Christ and John, it is said, in their discourses first exhort the people to repentance, and then add, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand ( Mt. 3:2 ; 4:17). Such too, is the message which the Apostles received and such the course which Paul followed, as is narrated by Luke ( Acts 20:21 ). But clinging superstitiously to the juxtaposition of the syllables, they attend not to the coherence of meaning in the words. For wh”
CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 65: contradicting Christ, they contradict the whole Bible. 3. The doctrine of baptismal regeneration, in the sense above explained, is opposed to the whole nature of true religion as set forth in the Scriptures. The two great errors against which 602 the Gospel, as taught by Christ and unfolded by his Apostles, was directed; were first the doctrine of human merit; the merit of good works, the doctrine that men are to be saved on the ground of their own character or conduct; and the second was ritualism, the doctrine of the necessity and inher”
Athanasian Creed (Ecumenical) “Athanasian Creed (Ecumenical, c. 5th-6th century AD), Section 1: Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.”
2 Timothy (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 2 Timothy 1:9: Who . . . called us--namely, God the Father (Gal 1:6). The having "saved us" in His eternal purpose of "grace, given us in Christ before the world began," precedes his actual "calling" of us in due time with a call made effective to us by the Holy Spirit; therefore, "saved us" comes before "called us" (Rom 8:28-30). holy calling--the actual call to a life of holiness. Heb 3:1, "heavenly calling" [TITTMANN, Greek Synonyms of the New Testament]; whereas we were sinners and enemies (Eph 1:18; Eph 4:1). The call comes wholly from God and claims us whol”
CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 74: the assertions of the New Testament writers and from their expositions of the ancient Scriptures, that we learn the amount of truth revealed to those who lived before the coming of Christ. From the Scriptures, therefore, as a whole, from the New Testament, and from the Old as interpreted by infallible authority in the New, we learn that the plan of salvation has always been one and the same; having the same promise, the same Saviour, the same condition, and the same salvation. The Promise of Eternal Life made before the Advent. That the p”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 98: them, that baptism is prior to faith and repentance, since, in this passage, our Saviour mentions it before the Spirit. This certainly must be understood of spiritual gifts, and if they follow baptism, I have gained all I contend for. But, cavilling aside, the simple interpretation to be adopted is that which I have given—viz. that no man, until renewed by living water, that is, by the Spirit, can enter the kingdom of God. 26. This, moreover, plainly explodes the fiction of those who consign all the unbaptised to eternal death. 633”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 40 [XXVII.]--A COLLECTION OF SCRIPTURE TESTIMONIES. FROM THE GOSPELS.: This reasoning will carry more weight, after I have collected the mass of Scripture testimonies which I have undertaken to adduce. We have already quoted: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (4) To the same purport [the Lord] says, on entering the home of Zaccheus: "To-day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (5) The same truth is declared in the parable of th”

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