Bible glossary

What Does ‘Salvation’ Mean in the Bible?

Salvation is God rescuing us from sin, death, and separation from Him, and bringing us into forgiveness, new life, and everlasting fellowship with Him.

Salvation means being saved: delivered from real danger into real safety. The Bible describes our danger as sin and its consequence, a life and eternity cut off from God. Salvation is God's great rescue, freely given, that we could never accomplish for ourselves.

It is bigger than a single moment. Salvation includes being forgiven, being made new, being kept, and finally being made whole in God's presence. And Scripture is clear that it is found in one Person, received by trusting Him.

Key verses

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Romans 10:9

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
Ephesians 2:8