We use the words “save” or “saved” regularly. The fire department saved the house. I save money at the local bank. The swimmer owes his salvation to the life guard. Christianity uses “save” and its variants, “saved” and “salvation,” similarly. Salvation means deliverance from the influence or bondage of sin and a full pardon from the death penalty sin incurs. Those who are saved do not really die. They close their eyes to their brief, natural existence only to awaken to an eternal spiritual one. We are saved from the effects of our rebellion against God. That rebellion, sin, is not doing what we know is right and by taking God’s rightful place in our lives. The penalty of sin is eternal separation from God, which reflects the personal decision to live without him. In effect, those who will spend eternity away from God and his love simply get what they wanted in this life. And it just carries over to the next one.
Eternity in God’s presence is, in essence, the end result of being saved, Salvation can’t be earned. It is a gift of God’s grace or unmerited favor. We get the reward we do not deserve instead of the punishment we do deserve. That is the gospel message. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 8:9-10 | NIV). Life to the full that Jesus promises is deliverance from the power sin once held over us and the resulting guilt and shame sin always carries with it. When we place faith in Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection we are filled with the Holy Spirit who leads and empowers us to live the life God intends for us to live.
Faith, plus nothing else saves us. Salvation results from placing absolute faith and confidence in what Jesus did on the cross. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17 | NIV). All God requires for salvation is childlike trust and willing obedience. Once we are saved, only apostasy, totally renouncing faith in Jesus, will again place us in eternal jeopardy.
Salvation is only the first step toward discipleship. But it must not be neglected or taken for granted. True discipleship makes us want to be like Jesus and produce “fruit in keeping with repentance.” Believers receive the Holy Spirit to help us do that, but only if we listen to his voice and follow his leading. Faith in Jesus, alone, makes him our savior, but obedience demonstrates that he is our lord.