I’ve got a confession. My definition of “salvation” has been far too small for far too long.
I’ve regarded salvation as something I received a long time ago—like my high school diploma or driver’s license. While I’m appreciative, these days there are other things on my mind.
But as I yearn to become the kind of worshiper the Father seeks (John 4:23-24), the Holy Spirit is convicting me to embrace a grander understanding of what it means to be saved.
So here goes...
The Bible is the epic story of God creating and redeeming our world and his people. We do this glorious gospel a terrible injustice if we reduce its message to “turn or burn.”
Yes, it’s imperative that we come to our spiritual senses and realize that—without Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf—each of us will one day stand before God and pay the price for our own unrighteousness. As the writer of Hebrews cautions: “...How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).
That’s why salvation is our biggest need—now and forever. That’s why the very thought of being saved should overwhelm us with gratitude. Hymnist Horatio Spafford wrote in “It Is Well With My Soul”:
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
But salvation isn’t just about what we’re saved from, it’s what we’re saved for.
As the apostle Paul writes, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). The word “handiwork” implies a beautiful piece of art, poetry, or music. God has redeemed us so that we can live lives that reflect his glory—lives of authentic worship.
That means we can’t stay the way we were when he saved us. And why would we want to?
So salvation is not just about deliverance, it’s about transformation.
Through his sacrifice on the cross, Christ can remake and restore every aspect of our broken lives. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus stood in the synagogue in Nazareth and proclaimed that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: "...to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:2b-3).
So in the same breath that we preach salvation, we should also preach comfort, transformation, and joy. Christ crowns us with his royal beauty, anoints us with his joy, and clothes us with garments of praise for his mercy and love. And he has called each of us to that same mission:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
Growing up in a conservative evangelical church, we emphasized the “crisis” of the salvation moment over the “process” of being saved. We were always a little uneasy with Philippians 2:12 where Paul instructed believers to “...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” We couldn’t wrap our heads around the idea that salvation was more than simply praying a prayer at the altar. It was only later than I began to understand that being born again involved a new life that was continually lived in the same power that saved me.
As I matured in Christ, I realized that salvation isn’t just about escaping hell, it’s about being “translated” (Colossians 1:13 KJV) from rebellious enemies of God (Romans 5:10) into his beloved children:
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father. (Romans 8:14-15)
Furthermore, Christ’s salvation involves more than just our souls; it encompasses all of creation. That’s why the apostle Paul writes:
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)
Because of salvation, there is coming a day when the present heaven and earth will be transformed and reunited in “a new heaven and new earth” where God will dwell with his people the way he did in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve (Revelation 21). This blessed hope promises that we will be reunited with all those in Christ who have gone before us and that our bodies will be raised imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42-52).
All this is just the tip of the iceberg of what it means to be saved.
One last thought. It’s tempting for me to see salvation as theological concept. In reality, salvation is a person. Rather than seeking a better understanding of an idea, I should be seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus. As Peter preached, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
So as you prepare for worship this week, consider spending some time dwelling on all that salvation means, and most importantly, seek the Savior himself.
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