What is being saved according to the Bible?

In connection with the above subject the question to consider in the first place is what is involved in salvation, or what it really consists in. What I understand by it is that the soul is delivered from that ruinous and destructive power under which it was held, and also from any evil to which it may be liable. The latter was exemplified in Noah and his house, and the former in the deliverance accorded to the children of Israel at the Red Sea. As to Noah and Israel, their salvation was temporal and did not necessarily involve new and eternal relationships with God as the salvation of our souls does, but to my mind the salvation that was accorded to them illustrates the two-fold character of the salvation which is ours in Christ Jesus. There may be other aspects of salvation, but they do not occur to me at this moment. I desire to look at the salvation under these two aspects.

The present salvation of God which reaches man through the gospel, is the power of God in operation to free man from every force which holds his soul in bondage, whether it be Satan (Col. 1:13), the world (Gal. 1:4), or sin (Rom 7:24); that being delivered and supplied with new divine power in the gift of the Holy Spirit, he may be able to serve God acceptably in the midst of a hostile world.

There are many aspects of salvation. In Matthew 1:21 we read of Jesus coming to save His people from their sins; and in Luke 1:71 Zacharias spoke of Jesus coming “that we might be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us.” The death of Christ has saved us from the consequences of our guilt, from the power of sin, from the power of Satan, and from the fear of death. Soon, at the coming of the Lord, we shall be saved from the judgment that will overtake a world that knows not, and desires not, God and His Christ, a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

But salvation is also viewed in Scripture as a present thing, for we are spoken of as being already saved. In 2 Timothy 1:9, we read of “God who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling,” and in Titus 3:5, “according to His mercy He saved us,” and in Ephesians 2:5, “By grace ye are saved.” There is therefore a present aspect of salvation contemplated in Scripture, and this I take to be the emancipation of the soul from the oppression and bondage of every adverse and ruinous power, whether it be death, Satan, sin, the flesh, or the world. We find deliverance from death, and the Devil as the one who has the power of death, by faith in that which answers to the dividing of the Red Sea; and from the working of sin in the flesh, by that which answers to the brazen serpent; and from the world, by that which answers to the passage of the Jordan.

This salvation is infinitely greater than that which was accorded to Israel, when by the hand of Moses He brought them out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage, purposing to bring them into the land of promise, in order that they might serve Him as a free people. That salvation was but temporal, and the great mass of those saved out of the hand of the taskmaster Pharaoh never reached the purpose of God for them. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness on account of their transgressions. And even the generation which was eventually brought into the land were driven out again for their idolatrous practices, and today their descendants are scattered over the whole earth under the government of God, on account of their rejection of the Messiah. But the salvation which is brought to light today, and which is preached in the gospel of the grace of God, is said to be “in Christ” (2 Tim. 2:10), and “eternal” (Heb. 5:9). It is not an outward, earthly deliverance from a carnal bondage, but it is the emancipation of the soul from the fear of death, and from the devil, the world, the flesh, and every spiritual foe that held the soul in captivity away from God. It is a salvation which is not yet revealed, but which shall come to light at the appearing of Jesus Christ, when all those who have by faith received it will come with Him in the clouds of heaven.

How great the blessing! The salvation of God goes far beyond the mere forgiveness of sins, inestimable as this initial blessing is. The believer in Jesus is washed, sanctified, and justified; he is brought into the family of God and given a place amongst the many sons; he becomes an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ; he is blest with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ; and presently the whole blood-washed throng will be lifted right out of the present evil world and be set down in the Father's house on high, there to enjoy divine favour and blessing for evermore. Well does the apostle say — "so great salvation!" What creature tongue is able to declare what God saves His people from, and all that to which He brings them in Christ our Lord?

There is a notion in the minds of those who come under the influence of these errors, that salvation and forgiveness may be taken as synonyms. Scripture, however, gives no support to such a thought. Forgiveness is simply that the Creditor no longer regards the debtor as liable for the debts he may have contracted. God releases the sinner from the consequences of his sins. But salvation is the emancipation of the sinner from every evil power that had captivated him, and held him as a slave. Reference is made to Israel in this book. At the Red Sea Israel was told to stand still and see the salvation of God. The people were delivered from the bondage under which they lay, and the dread power of the enemy was broken. If we should speak of the blood-sprinkled lintel as affording them salvation (I do not think it is ever called that), it would be salvation from God, for the blood was on the door-post to keep out His righteous Judgment, which was abroad in the land. Through the shed blood we have forgiveness (Eph. 1:7), and without shedding of blood is no remission (Heb. 9:22). At the Red Sea we have the salvation of God. This is Christ delivered for our offence; and raised again for our justification. Romans 3:24-26 has reference to the blood in Egypt, and chapter 4:24-25 to the Red Sea divided. Chapter 3, “Through faith in His blood.” Chapter 4, “We believe in Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

The great thought in salvation is that the soul is rescued from destruction and recovered for God. In Mark 16 it is put in contrast with judgment, and in 1 Corinthians with perishing, and with the latter it is usually contrasted in Scripture. In James 4:12 we have “One Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy;” and in Luke 19:10 we have the Son of Man come to seek and to “save that which was lost;” and in 2 Corinthians 2:15 we have the apostles a sweet savour of Christ to God, “in them that are saved and in them that perish;” and in all these places the word in the original for “destroy,” “lost,” “perish” is the same. The thought therefore connected with salvation in Scripture is easily laid hold of. The idea being that the soul is rescued from destruction, and recovered to God in new relationships, life, power, and blessing. I have said it is complete in a moral and spiritual sense in quickening with Christ, and in association with Him beyond Jordan. When we have come to this in the apprehension of our souls we can put on the helmet of salvation, we are in the enjoyment of an accomplished salvation, and have it as armour for our heads in battle; and to this Peter would have the babes grow up.

The salvation, the glad tidings of which we have heard, is the deliverance or transfer of the person out of the old state and place in which we were in Adam into an entirely new place and relationship with God in Christ.

In speaking of salvation in this way we must not limit it to salvation from going to hell. It is salvation from every form of power that the enemy can bring against us. Those who are saved are those who are the subjects of the sovereign call of God, and who are connected, according to His purpose, with Zion, that is, with Christ risen.