{"id":17079,"date":"2013-02-21T13:23:35","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T21:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=17079"},"modified":"2014-04-17T12:37:07","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T20:37:07","slug":"saved-most-misunderstood-word-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/saved-most-misunderstood-word-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Saved: The Most Misunderstood Word in the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"
The most misunderstood word in the Bible is also one of the biblical words we use the most. What word is that?<\/p>\n
And not just the word saved<\/em>, but the other words in the same word family, such as save, salvation,<\/em> and <\/a>savior<\/a>. How often have we heard pastors and teachers tell us of our need to “get saved”? How often do evangelists ask people if they have “been saved”? How often do people argue about whether or not we can lose our salvation<\/em>, and how to know for sure if we are really saved<\/em> or not?<\/p>\n This is common terminology, right? It is heard in countless sermons, read in countless books, and used in countless evangelism methods.<\/p>\n The problem is that the word doesn’t usually mean what we think it means.<\/p>\n Most often, when Christians use the word “saved” we think about the following concepts:<\/p>\n Furthermore, we think that people “get saved” by doing some (or all) of the following:<\/p>\n But did you know that the word “saved” (and the other related words like save and salvation) are rarely used to express any of the concepts above? The closest we get is Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9-10, 1 Corinthians 15:2, and Ephesians 2:5-9, and I am not convinced that even in these passages, the word “saved” means getting forgiveness of sins so we can escape hell, get eternal life, and go to heaven when we die. Taking a detailed look at each of these texts is beyond the scope of this blog post, so let me just summarize what the word saved <\/em>means in the Bible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It means “deliverance.” To be saved means to be delivered.<\/p>\n And when we understand it this way, it opens up a whole new range of possibilities. We can be “delivered” from almost anything, right? I pray that as I write this blog post, I am delivered (saved) from theological and biblical errors, and my greatest nemesis of all – typographical errors!<\/p>\n But I can also be delivered from sickness, from a meteor falling out of the sky and landing on my house, from getting in a car accident while I drive to work, from enemies invading our country, from our economy sliding into collapse, from earthquakes, floods, storms, and on and on it goes.<\/p>\n In a more spiritual sense, I can be saved from slipping into sin so that I destroy my life and my witness. I can be saved from ruining my marriage and my family by treating them with the love and respect they deserve.<\/p>\n The vast majority of the times the word “saved” is used in Scripture, it is not used in reference to receiving eternal life or going to heaven when we die, but is used in one of these other ways mentioned above. If you doubt this, just pull out a concordance and start checking it yourself. When the Bible uses the word “saved” it is talking about the Israelites getting saved from their enemies, from sickness, from slavery, and from death. The disciples are saved from drowning in a storm. Christians can be saved from a life of empty living.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\nGetting Saved is Not About Going to Heaven<\/h2>\n
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What does the word “Saved” mean?<\/h2>\n
How is “Saved” used in the Bible?<\/h2>\n