Like the word “gospel,” the word “salvation” means much more and much less than usually assumed.
Just like the word “gospel,” the way the word “salvation” is often used today is very different from the way the word is used in Scripture.
When people talk about “salvation” today or “being saved,” what they most often have in mind is the idea of receiving the forgiveness of sins so we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die.
But in biblical usage, the noun “salvation” (Gk., sōteria) and the verb “save” (Gk., sōzō) very rarely have anything to do with receiving eternal life or going to heaven when we die. Instead, the words are most often used in connection with some sort of temporal or physical deliverance. We can be saved from enemies, saved from sickness, saved from drowning, saved from suffering, or even saved from a premature physical death. While “salvation” is sometimes used in connection with sin, this is only because sin often has devastating physical and temporal consequences in our life. To be saved from sin means to be delivered from the destruction and damage of sin in our lives.
One resource that shows this quite clearly is Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary. Under the entry for “Save, Saving,” the dictionary includes the following options:
(a) Of material and temporal deliverance from danger, suffering, etc., e.g., Matt 8:25; Mark 13:20; Luke 23:35; John 12:27; 1 Tim 2:15; 2 Tim 4:18; Jude 5; from sickness, Matt 9:22; so Mark 5:34; Luke 8:48; Jas 5:15
(b) Of the spiritual and eternal salvation granted immediately by God to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, e.g., Acts 2:47, 16:31; Rom 8:24; Eph 2:5, 8; 1 Tim 2:4; 2 Tim 1:9; Titus 3:5; of human agency in this, Rom 11:4; 1 Cor 7:16; 9:22
(c) Of the present experiences of God’s power to deliver from the bondage of sin, e.g., Matt 1:21; Rom 5:10; 1 Cor 15:2; Heb 7:25; Jas 1:21; 1 Pet 3:21; of human agency in this, 1 Tim 4:16
(d) Of the future deliverance of believers at the second coming of Christ for his saints, being deliverance from the wrath of God to be executed upon the ungodly at the close of this age and from eternal doom, e.g., Rom 5:9
(e) Of the deliverance of the nation of Israel at the second advent of Christ, e.g., Rom 11:26
(f) Inclusively for all the blessings bestowed by God on men in Christ, e.g., Luke 19:10; John 10:9; 1 Cor 10:33; 1 Tim 1:15
(g) Of those who endure to the end of the time of the Great Tribulation, Matt 10:22; Mark 13:13
(h) Of the individual believer, who, though losing reward at the judgment seat of Christ hereafter, will not lose his salvation, 1 Cor 3:15; 5:5
(i) Of the deliverance of the nations at the Millennium, Rev 21:24
Though I would not state this list of various definitions quite this same way, and would put many of the references from definition (b) into other categories, it nevertheless shows that the words “save” and “salvation” in the Bible have a wide variety of meanings.
To help the reader of Scripture know what sort of “salvation” is in view when they are studying it, I recommend that whenever you comes across the words “save” or “salvation” in Scripture, you stop, replace it mentally with the word “deliver” or “deliverance” and then ask yourself, “Deliverance from what?” If you look in the surrounding context, you will quickly discover that the deliverance in view has nothing to do with gaining eternal life or going to heaven when you die.
Doing this will drastically help your understanding of numerous difficult passages in the Bible that many have thought of as referring to receiving eternal life, but refer instead to some sort of temporal deliverance.
It is possible, as the title of this post says, to believe in Jesus for eternal life (and of course, receive eternal life as a result), but still not be “saved” from many of the temporal and physical consequences of sin, or from sickness, or from enemies, or from many of the other negative things that can happen in life.
Have you ever heard this taught before? Has it helped your understanding of some of the tough texts in the Bible?
Jeremy,
Just some encouragement…keep following your heart. As far as the use of “salvation,” healing makes most sense to me. Sin is the disease that brings spiritual death from which we need to be healed. I think maybe “death” is also misunderstood in the scriptures. We automatically assume it is used for physical death when it might be better to see it as spiritual death.
Yes, healing works in many passages. But in many others, it does not. Matthew 8:25, for example. The disciples don’t want healing. They want to be delivered from drowning.
YES: “saved” means various things in the Bible, based on the CONTEXT!
Yes, Context, context, context are the 3 rules of Bible study.
Have you ever heard this taught before? “It is possible, as the title of this post says, to believe in Jesus for eternal life (and of course, receive eternal life as a result), but still not be “saved” from many of the temporal and physical consequences of sin, or from sickness, or from enemies, or from many of the other negative things that can happen in life.”
In answer to your question, it’s regarded as basic (along the lines of “be transformed…” and Paul’s “I know what I should do, but don’t do it …”), but rarely have I heard it expressed so well. Thanks.
I am glad you have heard it before and know that it really helps understand Paul’s message as well. Thanks!
Jeremy, I believe in Jesus for eternal life and all that but I was reading a post and it was saying how the holy spirit is supposed to work in you. But like I dont really feel like anything is changing like I still sin and i just dont feel anything I feel the same way as I did before believing in Jesus, also it said people who live immoral lives are actually not saved but they thought they were. Also im sorry for asking many questions
Erick allow me to jump in front of Jeremy’s response…don’t trust your feelings, feelings can betray you. Trust in the Spirit to work in you as you study the word of God. When we come to faith in Christ, the Spirit will put his finger on some areas of our lives that He wants to change immediately, while other areas of life take a secondary position. We cannot judge our own walks with God by comparing ourselves with others. Some people crawl, some walk, and others run…but we are only responsible to God for our walk.
When I gave my life to Christ I little emotion, and wondered if anything had really happened. It was only through getting into the word and allowing the Spirit to work in me that I saw the reality of God in my life.
It is true that there are immoral people who claim to be Christians, and the bible does talk of this…if you sin after accepting Christ you are like all other Christians. We get up after a fall, dust ourselves off (repent), and move forward with our walk. Those who have a “form of godliness” will not repent. Stay focused on walking with Jesus, love and serve others, and repent should you fall.
Scripture says eternal life is not a FEELING, it is KNOWING: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life: (1 Jn 5:13).
Also recall we don’t give our lives TO Jesus, He gave His life FOR and TO us: “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). “…Christ IN you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
Erick,
You are not asking too many questions. You are asking the right questions, and I commend you for that.
Ward is right on track. While God gave us feelings and they can be quite helpful, they can also be misleading, and based on a variety of circumstances going on in life.
Just remember that no matter what, God loves you, and you have His promise that you have eternal life through Jesus Christ. As you remember this, you will (over time) come to see God’s hand at work in your life bringing the transformation you long for.
thanks for the reply Jeremy and ward. one more question, what if i dont transform overtime ?do i still have eternal life? ( i will try my best im just saying as a different scenario)
Erick,
I would invite you to not even focus on this. Just work on loving God for all that He has done for you in Jesus Christ. Remember His infinite forgiveness, grace, and mercy. As you do this, you WILL change. But if you focus only on whether or not you are changing, it will get frustrating, and (because your eyes are only on yourself), you probably won’t change as much as you might have otherwise.
I really appreciate your comments in this post Jeremy. I think many Christians have a naive view of salvation that is perpetuated naive preaching from pulpits across this country. Many have the worldview that as American Christians we are entitled to a life safe from the trials and tribulations exhibited in the bible, or salvation from the Christian persecutions and martyrdom going on around the world as we speak. Will our faith stand up if America collapses financially? Would our faith stand up to a transition to a government that is tyrannical and suppresses our freedoms? Would our faith stand up to Christian persecution? Do we have the belief that God has promised us salvation from hunger? Torture? Loss of life? Loss of life of loved ones? Does God promise us salvation from these trials because we are Americans, and our nation was founded on biblical principles? If our faith is based solely on salvation from life’s trials, when they do enter our lives we will fall. We cannot as Christians co-mingle salvation of the soul with temporal earthly salvation.
Excellent points, Ward.
We are not promised to live lives free of trials and tribulations. But as you say, many believe we are, which causes so many problems in people’s thinking when the trials and tribulations come.