First, here is the biblical overview of "sin":

SIN (Heb. hattathe, awon, pesha, ra, Gr. adikia, hamartia, hamartema, parabasis, paraptoma, poneria).

The biblical writers portray sin in a variety of terms. It is only as they are conscious of God's holiness that they are truly aware of their sin (1 Kings 17:18; Ps 51:4-6; Isa 6).

The first book of the OT reveals how human beings were created by God without sin but chose to act contrary to his revealed will and thereby caused sin to become an endemic feature of human existence (Gen 3; Ps 14:1-3).

Sin is revolt against the holiness and sovereign will of God. Therefore, it is both a condition of the heart/mind/will/affections (Isa 29:13; Jer 17:9) and the practical outworking of that condition in thoughts, words, and deeds that offend God and transgress his holy law (Gen 6:5; Isa 59:12-13).

There is no person in Israel or the whole world who is not a sinner (Rom. 3:23).

However, those who have a right relationship with God, receive his forgiveness, and walk in his ways are sometimes described as righteous (Gen 6:9) and blameless (Job 1:1; Ps 18:20-24).

This is not because they are free from sin, but because the true direction of their lives is to serve and please God in the way he requires.

The final punishment for individual sin and wickedness was death (Gen 2:17; Ps 73:27; Ezek 18:4). This is certainly physical death but is also spiritual death, being cut off from communion with the living God.

The reality of sin and the need for atonement (and confession) are clearly presupposed by the sacrifices offered to God in the temple- e.g., the regular guilt (or trespass) offering and sin offering, as well as the special annual sacrifice of the Day of Atonement (Lev 4; 6:24ff.; 7:1ff.; 16:1ff.)-and in the prophecy of the vicarious suffering of the Servant of the Lord (Isa 53:10, 12).

Jesus was sinless and taught that the root of sin is in the human heart (Mark 7:20-23).

The outward life is determined by the inner (Matt 7:15-17), and thus an outward conformity to laws and rules is not in itself a true righteousness if the heart is impure (5:17ff.).

But sin is more than failure to keep the law: it is also the rejection of the Messiah and the kingdom he proclaims and personifies (John 16:8-9; 15:22).

Further, to live without the light of God from Jesus, the Messiah, is to live in darkness and to be in the grip of evil forces (1:5; 3:19-21; 8:31-34).

And to call the light darkness and the Spirit of the Messiah unclean is to commit the unforgivable sin (Matt 12:24, 31).

Sin is revealed by the law of God, but it is only as the Holy Spirit enlightens the mind that a person truly sees what righteousness the law demands of us (Rom 3:20; 5:20; 7:7-20; Gal 3:19-24).

Sin begins in the heart (Rom 6:15-23).

The origin of sin can be traced back to the first human beings, Adam and Eve, and to their revolt against the Lord (5:12-19; 2 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 2:14).

Why is salvation important?

Jesus did not come to be a philosopher or a doctor. If he did that, he failed.

He didn't solve most of the philosophers' problems.

He healed some people, but left most of the world just as sick as before. He did heal some bodies to prove that he could heal all souls!

Salvation is the ultimate reason for our existence: our end, goal, point, purpose, hope, final cause, and meaning.

The difference between success and failure at life's first task (becoming who you were meant to be) is the difference between salvation and damnation.

Jesus asked, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?"

No one in history ever asked a more practical question than this one. How could anyone who is sane rank any question before the question, "What must I do to be saved?"

Salvation is what religion is for. It was the reason for the Incarnation, the reason Jesus came an infinite distance, from heaven to earth, and even to hell, from the highest life to the lowest death.

it was the reason for your conception, the end God had in view from the beginning. It was the reason for the very creation of the universe.

What is salvation?
Jesus used dozens of images for salvation in His parables.

Salvation is the same as: "The kingdom of heaven," "the kingdom of God," "eternal life," "grace," "being born again," "regeneration," "life in the Spirit," and "state of grace."

Salvation by any other name would smell as sweet.

Because of the life, death, and exaltation of Jesus, salvation is a present reality.

It is deliverance from the dominion of sin and Satan; it is freedom to love and serve God now (Acts 4:12; 2 Cor 6:2; Heb 2:3).

Salvation is also, however, a future hope (Rom 5:9; 1 Peter 1:5; Rev 19:1).

Salvation is:

(1) The single reality behind many phrases
(2) One of two opposite possible destinies
(3) Eternal happiness

(1) The single reality behind many phrases:
There are many different images and phrases for salvation, some in Scripture, some not. Jesus used literally dozens of images for salvation in his parables, which He called "the kingdom of heaven." Different traditions use different terminology, such as: Born again, regeneration, sanctifying grace, etc.

Interdenominational squabbles over terminology are about as reasonable as arguments between the Navy and Coast Guard over whether to say "life jacket" or "floatation device" while thousands are drowning!

(2) One of two opposite possible destinies:
One main common point behind all the different terms for salvation (as listed above) is that two totally opposite eternal destinies await us at the end of two opposite life roads.

One road leads to God and blessedness; the other leads away from God and to "perishing."

In the physical world, all roads do not lead to the same place. Morally, too, there are objective roads.

You can't get to the destination of justice or rightness by the road of theft,

nor can you get to the destination of dishonesty by the road of always obeying your conscience.

The physical world and the intellectual world both have an objective structure of their own, with hard edges, so to speak, which we did not design or create but discover. Then why would the spiritual world not follow these same hard and fast rules?

It does.

If we conform to right roads, we succeed; if we do not, we fail.

If there is a real God there must be a real road that leads to Him and a real road that leads away.

According to C.S. Lewis, "There are only two kinds of people, in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' "

The reason our free-will choices determine our eternal destiny is because of the nature of the real spiritual world in which we live. Like the physical world, the spiritual world has roads that can be traveled in opposite directions.

Salvation and damnation are those opposite directions.

(3) Eternal happiness:
It has been observed from Aristotle to Freud that we humans act for ends, goals and purposes; and also that the one end, goal or purpose that motivates everyone all the time is - happiness .

The reason why salvation is of primary importance is that it equals true happiness - eternal happiness.

Happines here is not the shallow, subjectivistic and relativistic sens of "Whatever turns you on." But it is the older sense of "blessedness": real, objective completion, human perfection, true success, health of soul.

Blessedness is the right satisfaction of right desires, not just the satisfaction of whatever desires you happen to have at the time, or the feeling of subjective satisfaction. In this older, deeper sense of happiness, salvation equals eternal happiness.

What does salvation actually do?

Salvation justifies us with God.

Justification may be defined as "that judicial act of God by which, on the basis of the meritorious work of Christ, imputed to the sinner and received through faith, God declares the sinner absolved from sin, released from its penalty, and restored as righteous."

It is being placed by God in a right relationship with himself.

Four basic essentials in the act of justification are taught by Scripture. Justification involves:

A. Remission of punishment, in which the justified believer is declared to be free of the demands of the law since they have been satisfied in Christ (Rom 4:5) and is no longer exposed to the penalty of the law (6:7).

B. Restoration to favor, in which the justified believer is declared to be personally righteous in Christ. Mere acquittal or remission would leave the sinner in the position of a discharged criminal. Justification implies that God's treatment of the sinner is as if that one had never sinned. The sinner is now regarded as being personally righteous in Christ (Gal 3:6). There is not only acquittal but also approval, not only pardon, but also promotion.

C. Imputed righteousness of God, which is granted the justified believer through Christ's presence. Salvation in Christ imparts the quality and character of Christ's righteousness to the believer (Rom 3:22-26; Phil 3:9). Christ is made the Justifier through whom a new life is inaugurated in the believer (1 Cor 1:30).

D. New legal standing before God in which, instead of being under the condemnation of sin, the justified believer stands before God in Christ. Christ takes the place of the sinner, the place of curse (Gal 3:15), being made sin (2 Cor 5:21) and being judged for sin; the believer now stands in Christ's righteousness (Rom 3:25) and is viewed as a son (Gal 4:5).

How are we saved?
Justification = being made right with God
Sanctification = being made holy, saintly, good

Salvation includes more than faith, just as a plant includes more than just its roots. It needs its stem (hope) and its fruits (love) as well as its root (faith).

But, good works can't buy salvation. All you need to do, in fact, all that you can do, to be saved is to accept it, accept the Savior (Jesus Christ), by faith.

The NT teaches that salvation is a free gift, not earned by works of obedience to the law.

But this faith is only the beginning of the Christian life of good works, that is that "justification" (being made right with God) must, if it is real, lead to "sanctification" (being made holy, saintly, good). In other words, "faith without works is dead".

The bottom line is that we can do nothing without God's grace - not be saved, not deserve grace, not even ask for grace.

Scripture clearly says that both salvation is a free gift to be accepted by faith and that "faith without works is dead". "Works" means "love," and "love" means "the works of love," for Christian love is not a feeling, like worldly love; if it were, it could not be commanded.

What is faith?
Faith is letting God into your soul; and salvation (or eternal life) is having God in your soul.

This explains why salvation is not a matter of degree: enough good works, enough sincerity, enough orthodoxy. There is no sliding scale with some arbitrary cutoff point, as on a school exam.

Salvation is like pregnancy; you can't be partly pregnant. Either you have the new life or you don't.

A totally loving and generous God would not parcel out this gift of eternal life grudgingly only after we had performed "enough" steps. He would give it out with reckless abandon, shining his Son on the just and the unjust alike.

Only one thing could possibly prevent our receiving this gift - our refusal! Faith is not just believing but also receiving (Jn 1:12).

Faith is not like signing a contract or passing a test, but more like getting pregnant.

Faith lets in the God who is already there "outside" the soul. It is like drawing back the blinds to let the light in.

In the famous imagery of Jesus with a lamp knocking at the door (your soul), there is no knob on the outside of the door. Only from the inside can the door of the soul be opened freely.

And only from the inside can it be locked.

Salvation is not like entering a stadium by buying a ticket (or a stairway to heaven) if you have enough money; but it is like letting a guest into your house by trusting him (=faith) and opening the door. It is heaven (or eternal life) entering your soul.

Salvation is also "going into" or "entering" heaven.

The NT speaks of both of these notions: we are "in" Christ and Christ is "in" us.

Jesus did not merely save us from the punishment for our sins, but actually saved us from our sins!

The bottom line is that many understand this concept but they do not take the step of faith because they do not want to give up their "freedom". This freedom is meant by not giving their life to God and letting go of some of their cherished sins that the Bible clearly teaches are wholly incompatible with a holy God.

But those who take the step of faith are witnesses that true "freedom" comes from surrendering their lives to God (not "men of God") and that the washing away of their sins frees them to become the person that they were meant to be.

These sins which are symbols and acts of this supposed "freedom" are actually the chains of bondage.

What is it that my sins are doing that I need to be saved from?

Let's address that from three perspectives: one from secular psychology, one from 'general religion', and one from Biblical Judeo-Christianity...

(1) From Secular Psychology:
We know from psychology (and to a certain extent from social sciences) that certain 'bad' moral choices cause psychological problems and stresses, and continued violations of internal (or even assumed) moral codes produces mental fragmentation/disintegration.

Moral choices have DEFINITE deleterious effects on our personalities and our relationships.

In some cases (like addiction) they even create the situation where we cannot 'break out' of certain destructive patterns.

These destructive (and debilitating) aspects of evil moral choices (aka 'sin') are NATURAL effects.

The death of Christ is the basis for God to 'intervene' in some cases to 'free' us from this destructive chain.

In other words, on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus, God the Father is free to create interactions in our psyches and in our historical setting (e.g. with other people) that can alter these courses...[very brief exposition of this, but you probably get the idea...]

God can somehow soften, retard, or even re-route some of the negative effects of our choices--IF we have asked Him to 'interfere' in our life FOR OUR GOOD, on the basis of His Son's work on the cross!

(2) from 'general religion:
Most religions point out the same fact above, but add a new wrinkle . . .

That of the good of the universe...our evil moral choices affect OTHERS--our families (e.g. alcoholism), our environment (e.g. selfish abuse of the earth), our human race (e.g. Hitler's attempt at genocide).

The religions teach us that overcoming our tendencies (as individuals AND AS A GROUP) requires some kind of 'extra help'.

This might be 'insight' or 'transcendence' or "god"...but we need help in reducing the consequences of our evil actions--long enough to get better.

The Death of Christ 'frees GOD' to act in the lives of others (not just our own, as in #1 above) and to soften, retard, re-direct THEIR choices in some cases for the benefit of the WHOLE.

(3) from Biblical Judeo-Christian revelation:
If the Christian is correct in his/her analysis that God has 'spoken' into history in the bible, then the message that God gave about the effects of evil is VERY SCARY.

He has said that sin disrupts ALL OF REALITY!
Not just our personalities (#1),
not just the social whole (#2),
but the universe and our relationship with HIM--the foundational relationship of all!

Sin produces death, disintegration, malice, disruption, weakness, apathy, etc.

NOT a pretty picture.

This revelation points out that even GOD is affected by it.

He is 'part of the natural consequences'.

One of His 'jobs' is to provide justice for the mis-treated...this means that the 'job' of judgment on the Hitlers and Stalins and Husseins of the world is REQUIRED by our moral choices, in spite of His disdain for judgment.

"I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked" He says in the Old Testament.

WE have created the situation in which His judgment is required...'retaliation' is not an appropriately accurate word for this; 'justice' is more on target.

What these three (there are more, of course) lines of thought lead to, is:

That we DO NEED some way to counteract the significant, horrible, pervasive, and debilitating destructive consequences of personal evil.

And history has demonstrated our general lack of human ability to 'self improvement'.

But the 'minority church' (not the institutional church, with its often hypocritical and exploitative leadership) has produced numerous examples of individuals who have overcome MAJOR evil orientations in the their lives through a relationship with God (facilitated through the Death of Christ on the Cross as their substitute)

--the murdering zealot rabbi (Saul of tarsus, who became the apostle Paul),

--the debaucherous and vandalist Augustine,

--the subtle and persuasive skeptics C.S. Lewis and

--Sir William Ramsey--to name a few.

I personally have seen change in my life--in overcoming chronic personal limitations of character--that I have no way to account for other that a relationship to the Living God...

a relationship that could have only occurred when the Cross had freed me from having to be the 'target' of God's reluctant justice and also opened up my world to God's involvement and interaction in my consciousness and my experiences with others.

The "formula" for being saved is:

1. You must SEEK God (Matt. 6:33; Mt. 7:7-8; Luke 11:9; Luke 12:31; Acts 17:27; Heb. 11:6).

2. REPENT of your sin (Matt. 4:17; Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; Acts 17:30; Acts 20:21; Is 55:6-7)

All can repent, for all know the moral law (Rom. 1-2) and thereby their own sin.

3. BELIEVE-accept by faith and thus receive God's grace (Mark 2:5; Mark 16:14; Luke 5:20; Luke 7:50; Jn. 1:12; Jn. 3:16; John 14:12; Acts 20:21; Acts 26:18; Rom. 1:17; Rom. 3:22; Rom. 3:26; Rom. 3:28; ).

For some more detail into the "salvation" process, visit the "Lord" page.

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