The Big Questions About Salvation and FaithSample

What Do Christians Mean When They Say That They’ve Been Saved?

This is an interesting question because people who aren’t Christians have different ideas about what it means to be “saved.” You might be surprised to know that even Christians have different things in mind when they talk about being saved!

• For some Christians, being saved means stopping doing some things and starting doing others. For them, it’s all about their performance.
• For other Christians, being saved means joining a church, and often, one specific church. If you’re in, you’re saved. If you’re out, you’re not.
• For some, being saved means being filled by the Holy Spirit; you feel different and receive special spiritual gifts. Their focus is principally on the experience of being saved.
• For others, being saved means that whatever you do down here after you die, you enter heaven. Their focus on being saved is all about the future and what God promised to do later.
• Many Christians believe being saved means discovering a better way to live to be more successful in your finances, health, and relationships. For them, it’s mainly about personal development, health, family happiness, and a big focus on financial and business success.

All those things are good in some way or another, but none of them are the Bible’s definition of what it means to be saved.

It is true the Bible refers to things like physical healing or liberation from one’s earthly enemies as “salvation,” but it is essential to know what the core of salvation is all about. The main mistake people make when talking about salvation is to confuse being saved with the results of being saved.

Being saved from cancer, a relationship breakdown, or financial loss is wonderful, but fundamentally, these are not why God sent his Son into the world to die for us. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so you could have more money in your bank account or an easier life on earth. Jesus said he hadn’t come to bring peace but a sword. He meant that you hadn’t fundamentally understood salvation if you thought being saved would mean an easier life.

The Bible’s core meaning of being saved is you have accepted eternal life as a gift from God, based on his Son, Jesus, who has taken your sin at the cross and died in your place. As a result of what Jesus did, you are declared righteous and perfect before God. Jesus comes into your life through the Holy Spirit to lead you and help you grow as his child.

This might be somewhat challenging for people who are more interested in the material things of this earth rather than spiritual matters. Of course, no question being saved can result in many blessings in this world, but that’s not what salvation is fundamentally about.

Being saved is a change of spiritual status: you are changed from sinner to saint through the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary. Focus on that because everything else that’s good will flow from there.

– Eliezer Gonzalez