Salvation is one of the big words of the Christian faith. Big in the sense that it carries a great wealth of meaning in its use. Because of this, the word may be and is often used in different ways and at different times, to mean different thing things, and often more than one thing at the same time. In this brief discussion, we'll try to better understand how the word is used and the various concepts it is used to express.

In literal terms, When we use words like "salvation", "saved", "safe", and so on, it is usually assumed that something or someone is being rescued from an undesirable situation. It is not uncommon though, for Christians to use the word "salvation" by itself without additional clarification, because it is understood that the hearers know who is being saved, by whom they are being saved and from what they are being saved. Unfortunately, the implied context is often not the same for the speaker and the hearer, and since one word cannot imply all its possible meanings all at the same time, we may be left confused or misled about what we have heard.

Ultimately, in the gospel message, all salvation, all the different "salvations", are accomplished by God. At this point, some Christians will raise the question of what in particular is accomplished by the Father, what by the Son and what by the Holy Ghost; but I think as long we're talking about the same God, that particular question should not hinder us for now, and I may refer either to God in general, or to a specific person of the trinity without prejudice.

So, God saves us, but saves us from what and saves us how? The need for salvation is rooted in the very nature of man.

Spiritual Death We are born naturally, physically alive, but spiritually dead. We are born possessing natural physical life, but no spiritual life. That is, all we have is the natural, physical human life, we are lacking the life of God, the everlasting life. In salvation, we receive the spiritual life, the life of God. This is given freely by God as part of His work in saving us, not as a gradual infusion of grace, but as an instantaneous and irrevocable gift. This salvation event is also called regeneration, or being born again, since it is like experiencing a new birth, into a new life. The analogy of spiritual to physical death appropriately shows us the nature of the problem, that a dead person can do nothing, contribute nothing, take no action however trivial. In the same way, the spiritually dead can do nothing to bring about their own salvation, a saviour is needed - God alone comes to our rescue and performs the work of salvation. A drowning man may grasp at a lifeline, a dying man may gasp for breath and struggle to stay alive, but a drowned man is oblivious of the lifeline, the dead man has no strength at all, no breath in his nostrils. God alone is the agency in regeneration, we cannot contribute, we cannot earn it, we cannot help at all, we must depend completely on Him.

Sin Nature We are born sinful. Even though we are born not having done right or wrong, we are by nature sinful, by nature enemies of God. We are slaves to sin, and cannot help ourselves, it is our nature.