Salvation cannot be shared – not because it would be unwise to do so, nor because it might run out if split between two, but because it is of the nature of salvation that it cannot be shared. Each one of us must come to Christ as individuals; as individuals we must repent of our sins and no one else can do it for us. We must go one by one through that door that leads to life and no one else can go through that door for us. There is no such thing as salvation by proxy in the kingdom of God. It is a fiction of men that a parent can offer vows on behalf of a baptized child, for there is no such thing in the Bible. Just as we must leave this world one at a time, so we must stand alone before God and give account for our own sins and no one else’s. Sin is such a personal matter. Even if a Christian was willing to give away his salvation in its entirety, it could not be done. Moses prayed for such a thing and his request was denied, ‘And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book’ (Exodus 32:31-33), and though the Apostle Paul might have desired this, ‘For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh’ (Romans 9:3), he too saw that it was impossible.
Christians never tire of directing those who earnestly seek the Lord to go to Christ for salvation and they will go on doing so up to the very last hour, but salvation cannot be obtained from any man or any human agency. Christ does not dispense eternal life through his servants on earth. Although the church is given the privilege of being a light bearer in the world and an ambassador of Christ, it is never given eternal life itself to hand out to men and women. Christ reserves that for himself alone. Each one who obtains salvation must go and obtain it directly from Christ, not from someone who is standing in for him. The claim of the Roman Catholic church to be able to dispense forgiveness, or to be able to put into people’s mouths the body and blood of Christ is false. God reserves this great provision for himself alone.