1 Thessalonians 5:9 (Easy-to-Read)
God did not choose us to suffer his anger. God chose us to have salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This Truth Study, Salvation Part Two, will explore what salvation is or the “what” of salvation. We will look at the “what” of salvation from two overlapping perspectives: salvation as “the Great Exchange” and salvation as “sozo.” Sozo is the Greek word which is translated in English Bibles as the word “salvation.”
In the Truth Study, Salvation Part One, we looked briefly at the “why” and the “how” of salvation.
From Genesis chapters one through three we saw why salvation is necessary. God first created a garden filled with plants and animals. We saw how God created the first man in His image as a living spirit, housed in a physical body, and a possessing soul. In this garden two trees were named specifically: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned the man, Adam, not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam that if he ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. Then God created a woman to be a companion for the man and He declared that all He had made was very good.
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and although they did not die a physical death in their physical bodies, they did die spiritually. Their spirits, once alive to God Who is a spirit, died and they were no longer in fellowship with God. They lost their “God connection” and their innocence. This act of disobedience plunged the whole human race into spiritual death and separation from God.
The Apostle Paul described the situation in the book of Romans. He also stated that God’s remedy is Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:12, 18, 19 (Easy-to-Read)
12 Sin came into the world because of what one man did. And with sin came death. So this is why all people must die—because all people have sinned. 18 So that one sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people. But in the same way, Christ did something so good that it makes all people right with God. And that brings them true life. 19 One man disobeyed God and many became sinners. But in the same way, one man obeyed God and many will be made right.
The “why” of salvation is spiritual death and the “how” of salvation is spiritual rebirth known as being “born again.”
The term “born again” is perfectly descriptive of salvation. It is not just a religious phrase or “Christian lingo.” The Lord Jesus Christ Himself first used the term to explain to a man named Nicodemus the only way a person could enter God’s kingdom.
John 3:3-8 (Easy-to-Read)
3 Jesus answered, “I assure you, everyone must be born again. Anyone who is not born again cannot be in God’s kingdom.”4 Nicodemus said, “How can a man who is already old be born again? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” 5 Jesus answered, “Believe me when I say that everyone must be born from water and the Spirit. Anyone who is not born from water and the Spirit cannot enter God’s kingdom. 6 The only life people get from their human parents is physical. But the new life that the Spirit gives a person is spiritual. 7 Don’t be surprised that I told you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants to. You hear it, but you don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going. It is the same with everyone who is born from the Spirit.”
The problem was spiritual death – a human race dead to God. The solution was a rebirth. Bringing a dead spirit back to life reunites a person with God the Father.
Being born again and becoming alive to God is as simple as asking for forgiveness of sin and asking for God to cause you to be born again by Holy Spirit’s power. Stepping out in faith to ask God for the new birth is how a person is born again.
Ephesians 2:8, 9 (Easy-to-Read)
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
Ephesians 2:8, 9 (AMPC)
8 For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; 9 Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]
Salvation, being born again and born alive to God, is a free grace gift from God. No one can earn it. In fact, the price was too high for any person to earn salvation.
Psalm 49:7, 8 (NLV)
7 No man can save his brother. No man can pay God enough to save him. 8 The cost is much for his soul to be saved. Man should stop trying
But the cost was not too high for God Himself to pay.
John 3:16, 17 (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God is a three-part Person. He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, became a man – 100% God, 100% man – and stepped into our damaged state and saved us.
This brings us to the “what” of salvation. As stated above, we will study the topic of “what” salvation is from two perspectives: “the Great Exchange” and “Sozo.”
What is the Great Exchange? Perhaps the best introduction comes from Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah recorded in Isaiah 53. This chapter is, word for word, about Jesus and the Great Exchange.
Isaiah 53:1-12 (NLT)
1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Consider verse five.
Isaiah 53:5 (NLT)
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (AMPC)
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
Jesus Christ walked the earth in complete and total obedience to God the Father (John 5:19, 30). He was not “pierced” or “wounded” for any rebellion, sin, or iniquity of His own – there was none. Jesus bore the nails in His hands and feet – He was pierced – for our sin and rebellion. He exchanged His obedience for our rebellion. He was punished for our transgressions. He took our rebellion on Himself and was punished for it. In exchange, we are accounted as obedient children with Jesus’s obedience.
Until the whipping post and the cross, Jesus was whole and healed in His physical body. Yet he allowed Himself to be beaten, whipped, abused, and nailed to a cross so He could carry brokenness, injury, and sickness in our place. The Amplified Classic Bible says, “and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.” We are accounted healed and whole with His healing and health. He exchanged His health for our sickness and disease. We receive well-being while He received a beating. The Roman whip laid “stripes” upon His back and we are made whole – another aspect of the Great Exchange.
The Apostle Peter quoted Isaiah concerning that terrible day that we know as Good Friday.
1 Peter 2:24 (NLV)
He carried our sins in His own body when He died on a cross. In doing this, we may be dead to sin and alive to all that is right and good. His wounds have healed you!
1 Peter 2:24 (AMPC)
He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.
The Amplified Classic version says that Jesus Christ, God the Son, personally bore our sins in His own body. Notice how Jesus took ownership of the cost of our redemption (John 3:16,17). He was not and is not an uninterested bystander in the plan of salvation as some think. He is an ever-present Savior. More will be said about His continual presence in the life of the Christian later.
Now look at the next verse, Isaiah 53:6.
Isaiah 53:6 (NLT)
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
We can boldly ask God to forgive our sins because “the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.” The punishment for our sins was heaped on Jesus. The blessings due Him for His obedience are heaped on the believer. This is the Great Exchange.
The Great Exchange is also made clear in verse twelve.
Isaiah 53:12 (NLT)
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
The beloved and perfectly obedient Son of God, Jesus Christ, was “counted among the rebels.” In the Great Exchange this means we disobedient rebels are counted among the beloved, obedient sons of God.
Jesus was obedient to God and fulfilled His role in the plan of salvation. Now He shares with us, as a grace gift, that right-standing with God He earned. The Apostle Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (Easy-to-Read)
Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could be right with God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB 1995)
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The verse above describes Jesus’s willingness to be made sin with our sin, so that we might be made righteous with the righteousness He possessed. In fact, Jesus was not just punished for our sin, He became sin. Sin and right standing (or righteousness) are exchanged. When a person believes this, they are born-again – they are saved.
A wise believer will memorize, meditate upon, ponder, and return to this verse repeatedly. Combine this with Isaiah 53 and fix it in your heart.
Another example of the Great Exchange is also found in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NLT)
You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (AMPC)
For you are becoming progressively acquainted with and recognizing more strongly and clearly the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (His kindness, His gracious generosity, His undeserved favor and spiritual blessing), [in] that though He was [so very] rich, yet for your sakes He became [so very] poor, in order that by His poverty you might become enriched (abundantly supplied).
The Great Exchange is very clear in this verse. Jesus became poor with our poverty so that we could be made rich with His riches.
God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – own everything in the universe. The universe and all it contains were created by, are sustained by, and are maintained by the Godhead (Heb. 1:2,3). But Jesus laid aside His Godhead privileges when He became one of us. The Apostle Paul describes this in the book of Philippians.
Philippians 2:5-8 (Easy-to-Read)
5 In your life together, think the way Christ Jesus thought. 6 He was like God in every way,
but he did not think that his being equal with God was something to use for his own benefit. 7 Instead, he gave up everything, even his place with God. He accepted the role of a servant, appearing in human form. During his life as a man, 8 he humbled himself by being fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death—death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8 (NASB 1995)
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The passages in 2 Corinthians 8:9 and Philippians 2:5-8 describe Jesus exchanging His wealth and privilege for our poverty and lack. This is another aspect of the Great Exchange. There are many other examples in the Bible of the Great Exchange. As you read and study the scriptures, look for them.
We will now look at salvation from the perspective of “sozo.” The words “salvation,” “saved,” and “save” are used about one hundred eighty-five times in the New Testament in the New American Standard Bible 1995. The English word “save” is translated from the Greek “sozo” (Strongs Concordance G4982). It is a rich word with many facets to its meaning.
Sozo can mean “save,” “keep safe and sound,” or to “rescue from danger or destruction.” It can mean “to save a suffering one from perishing” or to “save one suffering from disease.” It can mean “heal” or “restore to health.” It can also mean to “preserve one who is in danger of destruction” or “rescue.”
Many people who think about “salvation” in the Christian sense think of escaping hell and going to heaven when your life on earth is over. That is true. However, the Greek word for salvation encompasses much, much more that going to heaven when life is over. Salvation includes current, present-day help – right now.
The aspect of salvation that is “save one suffering from disease” can only apply here on earth. There is no disease in heaven. We can only be saved from disease on earth.
The aspect of salvation that is “preserve one who is in danger of destruction” can only apply here on earth also. There is no threat of destruction in heaven. We are preserved from destruction here on earth.
We can only be “restored to health” or “rescued” in this life. The plan of salvation includes a glorious heavenly home and well-being here on earth. Consider Jesus’s words to His disciples in the Gospel of John.
John 10:10 (NASB 1995)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John10:10 (AMPC)
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
Jesus came to earth to save us. Isaiah 53 describes His mission as Messiah in detail. The first step is the new birth. Our dead spirits must be made alive. Once we are alive to God and have our “God connection” restored, salvation and abundant life are our inheritance. Of course, we will have to contend for our God-given rights because, as Jesus stated above, the thief will attempt to steal, kill, and destroy us. But we will not contend or fight for things we do not know we possess.
Hosea 4:6a (KJV)
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
Hosea 4:6a (MSG)
My people are ruined because they don’t know what’s right or true.
The adage “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” is not true. According to the prophet Hosea, what you do not know can ruin you. Learning and growing in your knowledge of the scriptures is how you know what belongs to you in your salvation. And knowing what belongs to you – what Jesus purchased for you at the cross – allows you to know when the thief is robbing you. Once you know you are being robbed, fight to recover your possessions. The scriptures give us instructions about how to contend with the thief and recover what he has stolen. This battle is called “spiritual warfare” and should be studied and practiced by all believers in Jesus.
The “what” of salvation is also explained in many of the Apostle Paul’s letters to the New Testament churches. Consider 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP)
Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]
In the King James Version, Paul uses the phrase “in Christ.” The Amplified Bible expands “in Christ” to “in Christ [that is grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior].” Salvation is being put into Christ. We become one with Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:17 (AMP)
But the one who is united and joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
The born again, new creature in Christ is literally IN CHRIST. We are never separated from Him. Earlier in this study, we saw that Jesus took our salvation upon Himself and “personally” bore our sins in His “own” body (1 Pet. 2:24). He is always a present help in the life of the Christian.
Paul asks this question in Romans 8.
Romans 8:35(AMP)
35 Who shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
This is a rhetorical question because no one and nothing can or ever will separate us from Jesus. The author of the book of Hebrews quotes Jesus Himself saying He will never leave us or forsake us.
Hebrews 13:5b (NKJV)
For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
In the Old Testament, God promises His relentless and constant presence with those who trust Him many times. Consider Isaiah 41, Joshua 1, and Psalm 23.
Isaiah 41: 10 (AMP)
‘Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].’
Joshua 1:9 (AMPC)
Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Psalm 23:4 (KJV)
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
One of the most glorious aspects of this great salvation is the fact, that as a believer in the gospel of Jesus, we can boldly say, “Thou art with me!” Those who are “in Christ” are in the continual presence of our loving God. What is salvation? Salvation is being “in Christ.”
When Jesus departed this earth, God the Father sent Holy Spirit. He is called the “Helper” in the New American Standard Bible (1995). Not only do we have the promise of the continual presence of the Father and the Son, but we also have the promise of continual fellowship with Holy Spirit. In His last discussion with His disciples at the Last Supper, John records Jesus saying this:
John 16:7 (NASB 1995)
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
The word “Helper” in our English Bibles is translated from the Greek word “parakletos” (Strongs Concordance G3875) and has meanings that include “summoned,” “called to one’s side,” “called to one’s aid,” “an advocate,” “one who pleads another’s cause with one,” and “an intercessor.” Given the definition of parakletos, consider the Amplified Classic Bible’s translation of John 16:7.
John 16:7 (AMPC)
However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you].
Notice that when Holy Spirit comes, He comes close. The Amplified Classic Bible says He comes “to be in close fellowship with you.” God did not send Holy Spirit to be a passive bystander in our lives as Christians. He came to get up close and personal with us and to help us in every way we need help. Holy Spirit comes into fellowship with us to implement and help us experience sozo. He comes to make sozo manifest in our lives.
Salvation is to be “in Christ” and that means that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are in constant companionship with us. The more we acknowledge this fact the more we experience the presence of all three members of the Godhead.
The Apostle John made this bold statement about the believer’s status in Christ.
1 John 4:17 (NASB 1995)
By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
As Jesus is, so is the born-again believer in this world. The are many aspects to being like Jesus in this world. Consider Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 1:30 (NASB 1995)
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
Again, we see that we are “in Christ” and we get a glimpse of four of the many benefits. First, Jesus becomes to us wisdom. He is the Wisdom of the Ages, and He is our wisdom. James tells us to ask for it to become operative in our lives.
James 1:5 (NASB 1995)
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
We activate and access the wisdom in us by our union with Jesus by simply asking for it. God will give us the wisdom we ask for generously and He will not chide us for asking.
According to 1 Corinthians 1:30, Jesus has also become our righteousness. We saw this earlier in 2 Corinthians 5:21.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB 1995)
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus bore our unrighteousness so we could be accounted (legally in the courts of heaven) righteous with His righteousness. In Christ, we enjoy His right-standing with God – He is our righteousness.
In Jesus, we are sanctified. The Greek word for “sanctified” is “hagiasmos” (Strong’s Concordance G38). Hagiasmos has meanings that include “consecration,” “purification,” “the effect of consecration,” and “sanctification of heart and life.” To be sanctified or consecrated is to be set apart. By being in Christ, we are supernaturally purified and set apart for God and His plans and purposes. We cannot purify ourselves. It is in Christ and in His purity, we are cleansed and made pure.
The last condition of being in Christ described in 1 Corinthians 1:30 is that He becomes our redemption. Redemption is such a beautiful word and concept. Redemption means to “buy back.” It also has the connotation of being “ransomed.” The blood of Jesus shed at the whipping post and the cross was literally the purchase price for our salvation. Recall from Psalm 49:7, 8 that the price was too high for a human.
Psalm 49:7, 8 (NLV)
7 No man can save his brother. No man can pay God enough to save him. 8 The cost is much for his soul to be saved. Man should stop trying.
No one can save himself or herself or another person. The price is too high. But God could become a Man and shed His own blood to buy us out of spiritual death and give us the new birth. The value of Jesus’s blood was more than enough to redeem every person everywhere for all time. In fact, the value of the blood of our precious Jesus was an overpayment. Everything God did in the plan of salvation was lavish, extravagant, and abundant (John 10:10). He spared no expense in saving us and providing the new birth. It is His nature to do over and above all we could expect.
Ephesians 3:20, 21 (NKJV)
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
God does “exceedingly, abundantly” above all that we could ever ask or even think. This salvation is greater than we know. Pursuing more revelation of what God did in Christ should be our daily purpose.
Paul told the Corinthians something similar.
1 Corinthians 2:9, 10 (NIV)
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
In His kind and generous heart, God has prepared glorious things for us. Although they are beyond what we know, Holy Spirit will reveal the “deep things of God.” The Spirit of God, our Helper (John16:7), comes into close fellowship with believers who seek Him and He teaches and mentors us in the things God has prepared for us. This should prompt us to spend time every day with our Bibles in prayer. There is always more to learn of this Great Salvation.
In this Truth Study we looked briefly at the “what” of salvation. This information only scratches the surface of this topic. You are encouraged to research and study both the Old Testament and the New Testament to find more truth about why salvation is necessary, how salvation is received and what salvation is.