What is salvation?

This is another important term to understand and one that is very often misunderstood. The Bible often uses the same term for different things and context will always make it clear. But if you mix verses and take them out of context you can get into real trouble interpreting the Bible. So it’s always helpful to separate them out based on context. Salvation is one of those terms. Romans 10:9 says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And the surrounding context makes it clear that he is emphasizing how easy it is, contrasting to the Old Testament law system. It’s obvious that this salvation is right away. So this verse has in context the “initial salvation” from sin and entering God’s family. But this doesn’t mean you can stop there and go to heaven. Mark 13:13 talks about the need to stay faithful to the end in the face of suffering to be saved, “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” So you see in this verse the context is the final salvation and rescue from death at the end of life. A lot of confusion is generated when people try to combine both of these into one meaning. Some latch onto the first verse in Romans 10 and say that’s all you ever have to do to be “saved” (just believe and confess). But it’s not just this study of other uses of the term “salvation” used in context, like this one in Mark 13:13, that make it clear that isn’t the case; there are many many verses that say other things are required after initial salvation. These are not isolated verses. This linked page has about 90 raw verses that talk about this need to obey God after initial salvation. It’s not often taught in the churches but it’s very clear in the Bible. I have a whole article that talks about that here.