Sunday March 13, 2022
Adding One Little Syllable
I have often heard people say that their being born again was “so great a salvation.” It is a “so great a salvation.” But by adding one little syllable it becomes even greater. That syllable is “zo.” It’s sozo great a salvation! Well, just what is salvation?
I could probably ask 100 people that question and get 100 different answers. By definition the word salvation means, “an act of saving from harm; the saving of somebody or something from harm, destruction, difficulty, or failure.”
But for the Christian, it goes way beyond a physical saving. For us it means, “deliverance from sin through Jesus Christ; in the Christian religion, deliverance from sin or the consequences of sin through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.” Some synonyms are: redemption · deliverance · rescue · recovery · and escape.
The word “salvation” most concerns an eternal, spiritual deliverance. When Paul told the Philippian jailer what he must do to be saved, he was referring to the jailer’s eternal destiny (Acts 16:30). Jesus equated being saved with entering the kingdom of God (Mat.19:24-25).
That’s being saved for something. We are also saved from something. What are we saved from? In the Christian doctrine of salvation, we are saved from “wrath,” that is, from God’s judgment of sin.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (Rom.5:9)
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess.5:9).
Our sin has separated us from God, and the consequence of sin is death (Rom.6:23). True biblical salvation refers to our deliverance from the consequence of sin and therefore involves the removal of sin. Praise God! That’s right…praise God. Only God can remove sin and deliver us from sin’s penalty.
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. (Titus 3:4-6).
How does God save? God has rescued us through Christ (Jn.3:17). Specifically, it was Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection that achieved our salvation. Scripture is clear that salvation is the gracious, undeserved gift of God (Eph.2:5, 8) and is only available through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Eph.1:7).
How do we receive salvation? We are saved by faith, that is, believing in Jesus. First, we must hear the gospel…the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection (Eph.1:13). Then, we must believe…fully trust the Lord Jesus (Rom.1:16). This involves repentance, a changing of mind about sin and Christ (Acts 3:19), and calling on the name of the Lord.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Rom.10:8-10).
As good and wonderful as that all is, there is so much more to salvation. You see, the word for salvation is sozo in the Greek. There are seven distinct and powerful blessings associated with this word. When you look it up in Strong’s Concordance, you will see seven aspects:
- Delivered
- Protected
- Healed
- Preserved
- Saved
- Do Well
- Be Made Whole
Unfortunately, this is lost in the translation of the Bible into the English language. So, you have to go back to the Greek text to gain the full understanding. Sozo contains all seven aspects of salvation. And to walk in the fullness of our salvation, we must embody all seven aspects.
Once you have the revelation of sozo, it actually illuminates that walking in the fullness of our salvation comes after we believe. We literally lack nothing! Believing catapults us into the full revelation of who Jesus, The Father and the Holy Spirit are and we then walk in the full power, dominion and authority that is held in Jesus. (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of lack)
Yes, it was done the moment Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and me. The quest, then, becomes truly – and I do mean truly – believing and moving in His power upon the earth. Yes, it is done in Heaven and now it is up to you and me to bring it forth and manifest the Kingdom of Heaven upon the Earth. It happens through those in the Body of Christ who truly believe.
We are powerless on our own, but through Christ, we gain access to the realm of the impossible right here upon the earth and are able to do all thing through Christ who strengthens us (Phil.4:13). Nothing will be impossible with God (Matt.17:20). We must look to the Lord for understanding of the truth of this teaching as we move toward fulfilling the gospel of the Kingdom in all the world….that is what salvation is all about!
