Salvation Defined
I grew up singing a song that had this line in it: “The gospel in a word is: love”.
It then went on to say, “The gospel in a word is: peace” and “The gospel in a word is: joy”.
It never said, “The gospel in a word is: hard” — even though that would have been just as accurate as the other words used.
I’ve been teaching a Wednesday night series for the past few months called “The Gospel According to Jesus”, and we’ve seen that his idea of what the gospel is and does differs from the way we tend to present it today. His idea is bigger, deeper, more far-reaching and way better than our feeble imaginations have dared to dream. Jesus’ version of the gospel doesn’t just concern itself with what happens to us after we die; it is concerned with how we are to live in the meantime.
So, I’m searching for how to conclude this series. I feel like I could teach on this subject for a very long time, but the leadership of the church that has hosted the class wants me to take a break after this week. How do I wrap this up?
I suppose the best way to start the end is to try and define what the Bible means when it uses the word “salvation”. After all, that’s what Jesus came to offer us, right? His very name means: “The LORD saves” (cf. Matthew 1:21).
Entire books have been written on this subject, but — if you had to boil it down — what does the word “salvation” mean?
November 27th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Don’t judge me too harshly for this, but … lately, salvation to me has meant ‘Tony Romo’.
November 27th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Rescue and redemption. (Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.)
I was lost but now I’m found and redeemed.
You know what comes to mind more than anything else in thinking about this word and its meaning are old church songs. “Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed by the love of the Savior, His child and forever I am.”
“I once was lost, but now I’m found, what blind, but now I see.” Amazing Grace.
“Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the last, my Savior made me whole.”
Here’s an original idea. Pick out the best song selections from your song book and spend the entire last class singing about salvation.
I’m even thinking about Neil Diamond’s “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show!!”
Those are my thoughts on salvation. Sing it out, brother. Sing it out!! Really!
November 28th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Salvation, hmmm I was humming those songs yesterday too. It means a new body that won’t decay, it means seeing all those loved ones I’ve said good bye to in this life and miss terribly. It means being where my Savior dwells and getting to see and walk with Him. It means certainy instead of uncertainy, no tears. I like what Joe Beam said one time, studying and knowing all the answers to those questions we always ask. It means community with all the others. It means we will always praise the One who died for me.
November 28th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Eternal Security – that begins immediately, (irregardless of anything this life throws at us – in Christ we are safe), and only gets better and better eventually becoming total bliss that the discriptions of heaven only hint at.
November 28th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Wow. What a question. I looked up salvation in the dictionary. Just as a jumping point. One of the entries was salvation from the power of sin. I thought that would get me going, but even that just left me speechless. Sin. A fallen world. God’s creation gone astray. And all that it entails. It’s almost too big to speak.
A body that wont’ decay
Eternal security
bliss
I was blind but now I see.
Not to be argumentative, but that all seems so “me” centered. Salvation of the WORLD. God is in the business of putting back what was ruined in the beginning. That has huge implications that I struggle to get my head around. I’m looking forward to more dialogue.