What is Meant By “Salvation”?

by Edward Fudge

A READER in the San Francisco Bay area asks, “What is meant by salvation, and is it a process or an event?”

“Salvation” is but another word for “deliverance” and there are many ways of talking about God’s mighty deliverance of sinners such as us. The Bible speaks, for example, of justification, sanctification, and glorification. These involve past, present, and future so that the believer may say, “I have been justified; I am being sanctified; I will be glorified.” Justification is God’s work for us; sanctification is God’s work in us; glorification is God’s work on us. Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin (see Romans 3-4). Sanctification delivers us from sin’s power (see Romans 7). Glorification will deliver us from its presence (see Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 15).

There is a sense in which Christians have “been” saved (see Ephesians 2:8). But the Bible also speaks of those who are “being” saved (see 1 Corinthians 1:18), and it also says that we “shall be saved” in the Last Day (see Romans 5:9-10). We have been redeemed, liberated, by Jesus’ blood, but we also look forward to the day of redemption (see Ephesians 1:7-14). We have the Spirit of God already, but we anticipate the fullness of the Spirit in the new heavens and new earth. We have been washed and cleansed, but the Christian life involves ongoing cleansing (see 1 Corinthians 6:11 and 1 John 1:7). The Messiah came and he is yet to come (see Hebrews 9:26-28). The Kingdom is here, but it is also coming, and Jesus taught us to pray that it will come on earth as it is in heaven (see Colossians 1:13; 2 Peter 1:11; Matthew 6:10).

These days we are so accustomed to hearing people talk about “getting saved” that we might find it surprising to realize that the New Testament scarcely uses that language. “Salvation,” the outpouring and outworking of God’s grace, is not only a single-point event but a lifelong process. Some of us come to God in crisis experiences; others are nurtured in the faith from infancy and have no “Damascus Road” testimony at all.

Is salvation an event? Indeed it is. Is it a process? Indeed it is. Is it past, present, or future? Again the answers are, “Yes!” We may describe salvation in the simplest of terms and speak truthfully. But as much as we ever learn, we will never be able to describe it exhaustively.

Thanks be to God for his incomparable gift!