If you asked ten people on the street how a person gets saved, you'd get ten different answers — and most of them would have some basis in Scripture. That's not a sign that salvation is ambiguous. It's a sign that most people have only ever studied one piece of a multifaceted biblical teaching. Salvation in Scripture isn't one event. It's a comprehensive rescue operation involving the past, the present, and the future.

Last time we examined the Old and New Covenants — and how the New Covenant transforms the basis of our relationship with God. Now we get to what that covenant provides: the full biblical doctrine of salvation.

Seven different Hebrew and Greek words get translated as "salvation," appearing 388 times total. These same words are also translated using 23 other English words that mean "salvation" or some aspect of it. Here's the full list: "deliverance," "deliver," "delivered," "deliverers," "save," "saved," "savest," "saveth," "saving," "health," "help," "welfare," "safety," "victory," "safe," "Savior," "Saviors," "defend," "avenged," "avenging," "rescue," "preserved," and "preservest."