Salvation is one of those commonly used words but also one of those misused words. It’s not abused but it’s misused. What I mean is we understand some of the truth of salvation, but we don’t fully understand the full truth. So, what does salvation mean. The Greek word for salvation is sōtēria. It is God’s comprehensive rescue that brings deliverance, healing, forgiveness, and restored wholeness now and in the age to come. When we have used the word salvation, we often use it to mean God forgave us of our sins through the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ. We understand that part of the truth but not the full truth. The full truth is that Jesus did not just die for our forgiveness but for our deliverance from demonic torment; He died for the healing of our soulish wounds and physical healing; He died for our full restoration in spirit, soul and body.
Mark 2:5-11, “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
In this situation, Jesus makes a very interesting point. He is equating this man’s illness to his sin. When Jesus asks which is easy to say, your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk. He is essentially saying if I deal with the sin issue, the healing issue will be dealt with. What Jesus is trying to say is this man is paralyzed because of sin, and if we deal with sin, then healing will follow. Not the man’s sin but the sin that entered the world through Adam.
Let’s look at John 9 in the excerpt below, I believe that will give more clarification to the point I am trying to make. The disciples ask Jesus, who sinned to cause the man to be born blind, and they gave Him two options, either the man or the parents. What are the disciples saying? They are saying we know sin is the problem, we are just trying to figure out who’s sin caused it. Look at the answer Jesus gives them. He says neither this man nor his parents sinned. He doesn’t say sin isn’t the problem, He just says it’s not the man or the parents’ sin that is the problem; but sin is the problem.
John 9:1-3, “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”
The sin being referred to is the one that came from Adam. Romans 5:12 tells us, through one man sin entered the world and death through sin. When sin came in death came in with it and through death sickness and disease came in. That’s why Jesus’ answer in John 9:3, is very illuminating. Jesus says that the works of God should be revealed in the blind man. Jesus goes on to heal the man. This is the work of God that was revealed through this man. When Jesus was alive, He couldn’t take care of the root cause, sin, yet but He could deal with the effects of sin.
Jesus dealt with the sin problem when He died on the cross. That is what John the Baptist said about Him. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the sin that came in through Adam. After sin, the root cause was taken away, deliverance, healing, forgiveness, and wholeness can be received.
The full truth about Salvation is Jesus died for so much more than just forgiveness of sins.
