What Does it Mean to Be Saved?

I started writing this blog this morning by beginning to sum up the various theories of the atonement* and show how they all contribute something to our understanding of our salvation. It quickly became obvious to me that to try to do that, would require something book length, rather than blog length. So, I decided to lower my aim a bit, and just talk about the outcome of my current perspective on what Jesus has won for us in our atonement, without comparing or contrasting with the major views.

More than Zero

To listen to some presentations of the Gospel, and some explanations of how our salvation works, one can quickly get the idea that in paying the penalty for our sin, an amount we could never pay, Jesus got our bank account with God back to zero. Not that it's said quite that way, but the effect is the same. Jesus paid our penalty and some day we get to go to heaven instead of hell. In this presentation we sometimes hear that we go before the Judge (God), Satan, the prosecuting attorney comes with a list of charges, our Advocate (Jesus) holds out the piece of paper that says "Paid in Full" and the Judge says "Case Dismissed." We then walk out of the courtroom through door "A" into heaven, rather than door "B" into hell. And that's the end of it.

Now, I'm all in favor of getting out of hell! Come on! Eternal punishment, flames of fire, it's a horrible place, as the Bible describes it. I'm thankful to Jesus for getting me out of there! But is that it? Is that all there is to our salvation: that we don't have to be punished for eternity, but instead, some day, we get to enjoy the eternal bliss of playing harps while floating on clouds or something?

If all we have is that our insurmountable debt is paid, that's good, I suppose. But all that gets us is a zero balance. It's really easy to get in debt again, if all you have is zero. Maybe that's why we keep up the cycle of sin/repent: we have no way of getting our head above water -- so to speak.

But getting to zero does not at all sound like what the Bible tells us about what it means to be saved, does it?

Life to the Full

Jesus said that his purpose was to do far more than get us back to zero. He came that [we] may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10). Some translations have "abundantly" here. The point is that Jesus' understanding of what He was doing was that we would have a life abounding in goodness, not merely a life without the threat of punishment.

The idea that this abundant life was exclusively something that we would experience in the afterlife seems to be completely absent from the context. There is no danger of a thief coming to steal and kill and destroy in heaven! The situation is now--this life. Now is when Jesus is offering us life to the full or life abundantly.

What Jesus has won for us on the cross is much more than our "Get out of Hell free" card. He offers us much more than a zero balance on our account with God. He offers us abundance. He offers us the Kingdom, in fact He gives us the keys to it!

Life in the Kingdom is more than hope about the life to come. Since we live in the Kingdom of God now, we can expect the benefits of the Kingdom of God now. It's true that the Kingdom is still breaking in, and hasn't yet taken over the planet, but it is, in fact, breaking in.

The greatest gift in the Kingdom, apart from the gift of salvation that gets us into the Kingdom, is the gift of the Holy Spirit! He comes to live within us. He takes up permanent residence and is at work in us helping us in our battle with sin and the flesh (Romans 8:13-14), he leads us and produces the fruit of the character of Christ in us (Galatians 5:22-23).

Since the Spirit is within us and upon us, here are some of the things we can also expect to find in the Kingdom (at least from time to time): healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, casting out demons (Matthew 10:8) hearing God's voice (John 10:4), messages of wisdom & knowledge, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues & interpretation (1Cor.12:8-10). Those aren't for some "spiritual elite," they're for everyone in the Kingdom; they belong to those who belong to Christ.

Our salvation wins for us all of the above, and more! Of course our future will be even more glorious--more glorious than we are capable of imagining. But the Gospel is not just in the future tense. It's present tense because it's present now.

There's much more that I could say, and maybe I will in a future blog.

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*This site summarizes several theories of the atonement (the doctrine of salvation), though it is quite biased toward one of them.