Title: What is Salvation/Ephesians 2:1-9
Content What is salvation/Ephesians 2:1-9
“… By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God... ” (Ephesians 2:1-9)
Word: Christianity is the religion of salvation. Our life of faith is also made on the premise of salvation through Jesus. In this way, salvation is the foundation of our life of faith. So, what is salvation in the Bible?
Life event. The Bible describes salvation as the resurrection of life. This is the most important meaning of salvation. The common misconception about salvation today is problematic in understanding salvation as a simple reformation, a universal change, rather than a life event. But the Bible does not (verses 1 and 5)
Salvation is the event of being resurrected from the dead, and the event of resurrection where new life is gained. That is why salvation is expressed in terms of being born again or born again. When we pray, we often use the expression “we who have no choice but to die because of our sins”. But the Bible does not teach that beings who were destined to die did not die. It teaches that those who were already dead in trespasses and sins are raised to life. Therefore, salvation is not a level of change into a ‘better person’, but a life event that means the birth or resurrection of a ‘new person’, a ‘new being’.
Also, salvation is acquiring the status of a citizen of heaven (verses 5-6). Salvation is the birth of new life, and at the same time, moving to the new world, heaven.
“He made us sit down together in the heavens in Christ Jesus” is a statement that excites us. Salvation is when people on earth become people of heaven and citizens of heaven. Many people understand heaven only as a place to go after death. However, heaven has a future and spatial meaning, but also a present and stateful meaning. Heaven is also the place we will go to when we die, but here we are also living in Jesus. That is salvation.
Salvation is a new life in Christ (verse 10). Salvation refers to new born people entering a new life from a new nature.