Salvation

What does it mean exactly to be saved?

Saved from what? Saved for what?

Lastly, why exactly does one need to be saved?  Below, you'll find the answer to these questions and many more.  

What does it mean to be saved?

What does it mean to be saved is a muli-fold answer.  We must consider the fullness of this answer in order to have a grasp on what exactly did Jesus Christ do on that cross for all those who believe in Him.  You are saved from something and you are saved for something. 

The word that used for "saved" in the Bible is the same word that means saved, healed, delivered.  That is what salvation means.

Salvation means that Jesus saved you from 

• your sins which means he has made away for you to be right with God.

• your sicknesses which means you have access to His healing.

• the oppression of the enemy so that you can live free.

Why would God do that for us?  It's simple.

Jesus wants a relationship with you.  

No matter who you are or what you’ve done, Jesus came to earth for you. He didn’t come to start another religion, to point out our faults, or to belittle us.

Jesus came to save us, and that’s good news!

Salvation Is the Start of a Relationship.

Salvation is about more than what happens when we die. It’s the way to experience a full life with God here and now. This is the gospel of the Kingdom here and now.

In deciding to follow Jesus, we’re acknowledging that our way isn’t working anymore. That we’re done flying solo, and we’re giving Jesus control.

From that moment on, we’re never alone. Jesus is the friend who never leaves us or forsakes us. He gives us His Spirit to guide us and access to God, who loves and cares for us.

What are we saved from?

We are saved from many things.  The largest thing is the fact that we will never have to face eternal damnation.  

John 3:36

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him.

We have been saved from captivity of the devil.

Acts 10:36

You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John announced: with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.

What are we saved for?

The Bible says that we are saved for the works He has created us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.

Why does anyone need to be saved?

Sin.  We have inherited a problem.  We are born into a sinful life.  Because of sin, our righteousness is tainted. Our righteousness will not get us to heaven.

Romans 3:23 says

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Who can be saved?

Everyone! Anyone who believes in Him. We all need saving — from the person filled with regret to the preacher’s kid who followed every rule. God’s desire is for everyone to have a relationship with His Son.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Often times, the enemy will like to confuse people about how to be saved.  People think they can earn it be being good 'enough'. This type of thinking is a performance-based religion approach.  This is the very thing Jesus came to set us free from.  Salvation cannot be earned. It cannot be bought.  You do no inherit it.  The only way to be saved is to receive the free gift of what Jesus did for you on the cross.  

No one will enter heaven by their own merit.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.

If you could earn savlation, it would be easy to think some people will boast about it.  They would develop a 'self-righteousness' about it and this would defeat the very simplicity of the cross.

Continuing in Acts, the Bible tells that the only name, by which, anyone can be saved is by Jesus Christ the son of the living God.

Acts 4:12

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”

Jesus says it this way:

John 14:6

Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

and again here:

John 3:16

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

When you put your trust in what Jesus did for you, his payment for your sins, and commit to following Him, you are saved. Salvation is God’s gift to you. You cannot earn it, and you don’t have to “get right” to receive it.