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Who merits glory in salvation?

[S]alvation is the rescue and deliverance of a person from sin and condemnation by grace, through faith, unto righteousness and eternal life. Salvation was accomplished through the infinite expense of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. Every sinner who receives this salvation passes from the sin-condemnation death to the gift-of-God eternal life (John 5:24; Romans 6:23).

So, to whom does salvation belong? And, whose is the glory and praise for such an incalculably gracious gift? Jonah testified, “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). The Bible supplies us with two undeniable proofs that salvation is indeed of the Lord. The Bible ascribes salvation unto the Lord in whole and in parts. If the all the parts are ascribed to the Lord, then the sum of the parts, or the whole, is ascribed unto the Lord.

The parts of salvation
What do I mean by the “parts” of salvation? I am referring to the different aspects of salvation taught in the Bible. Aspects of salvation can be divided in various ways, but for sake of our thoughts, these would include the new birth, repentance, faith, forgiveness, justification, adoption, perseverance, and glorification.

• Regeneration, or the new birth, is the work of God solely. Man cannot effect it nor direct it. We are born of God. Without it, we will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.
  

  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
  – John 3:3

  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth:so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
  – John 3:7-8

  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
  – John 1:12-13

  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
  – James 1:18

• Repentance is confessing, forsaking, and renouncing all our sin before God. It is turning from sin and self unto Christ alone. Repentance is a gift from God and the work of God in the soul of man.
  

  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
  – 2 Timothy 2:25

  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
  – Acts 11:18

• Faith is believing savingly and trusting fully in the person and work of Christ alone for the full payment of our sin-debt, imputed righteousness before God, deliverance from God’s wrath, and eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord. Faith is also a gift from God and the work of God in the soul of man.
  

  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
  – Ephesians 2:8-9

  All things are delivered unto me of my Father:and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
  – Matthew 11:27

  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
  – Philippians 1:29

• Forgiveness is the full pardon and deliverance from the condemnation justly due all our sins. We are all unquestionably guilty before God and rightly condemned to death by God’s just and holy law. Apart from full forgiveness of all transgressions of God’s holy law, we will suffer eternal punishment apart from God. Forgiveness is unquestionably from God based on the atoning work of Christ in our place. He is the judge, law-giver, and the offended by our sin.
  

  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
  – Ephesians 4:32

  I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake,
  and will not remember thy sins.
  – Isaiah 43:25

• Justification means being declared righteous before God. Justification is by grace through faith based on the perfect sacrifice of Christ for our sins and the perfect righteousness of Christ for our life. Justification is of God.
  

  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
  – Romans 3:24-26

• Adoption is being engrafted into God’s family. We are aliens by nature, the children of disobedience who are cut off from God. God adopts us into His family giving us full status as heirs and joint-heirs with His only begotten Son. Adoption is the gracious work of God.
  

  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
  – Romans 8:14-17

  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
  – Ephesians 1:4-5

• Perseverance is the continuance in the Gospel unto the end through the gracious preservation of God. Those who are truly saved do not fall away, but persevere and endure, being faithful unto death. Perseverance is a work begun, continued, and finished by God.
  

  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
  – Philippians 1:6

  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
  – 1 Peter 1:5

  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
  – John 10:27-29

• Glorification is the full redemption of the purchased possession where man’s soul and spirit are joined with his resurrected, perfected, immortal body to dwell with Christ for all eternity. Glorification is likewise the sole work of God.
  

  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
  – Romans 8:30

  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
  – Philippians 3:20-21

The above is a sample of how the Bible ascribes the various aspects of salvation to God. It is simple to conclude that if the parts are all ascribed to God, then it follows that the whole is then ascribed to God. Jonah testified to the truth.

If salvation is truly of the Lord, then all the glory is only to God. Paul writes as much to the church at Corinth.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
– 1 Corinthians 1:26-31