Meaning of salvation

Imagine that someone is drowning in a river. Saving that person will mean:

• bringing the person back to the bank (saving him or her from the water on the outside);
• making the person better – giving first aid, which will include getting the water out of the airway (saving him or her from the water inside). 

When we talk about God’s plan of salvation we mean the process of being:

• brought back to God;
• made better (in other words saved from evil without and within).

Overview of God's plan of salvation

It is difficult to understand the Apostles’ Creed without thinking about God’s plan of salvation and to do this we need to consider the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. On the next page is a Table giving an overview of God’s plan which we will think about in more detail in the next few sessions. At the foot of the Table are some notes.

NOTES

Minus 3: HUMANKIND fell away from God.

Minus 2: Out of HUMANKIND God chose the Twelve Tribes of Israel to be HIS PEOPLE and he made a Covenant or Partnership – 'the Old Covenant'– with them at Mount Sinai in about 1175 BC.

Minus 1: By 600 BC only the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin – the Remnant – were left. The Old Covenant or Testament ended with the coming of:

Plus 1: JESUS CHRIST
and the New Covenant or Testament began. Christ chose the Twelve Apostles to be the New (Christian) People of God and made his New Covenant with them at the Last Supper in Jerusalem.

Plus 2: On the Day of Pentecost (Whitsunday) the Ascended Christ gave his Spirit to the Apostles making them to be his Church and People. Soon people of all nations became members of it by being baptised (Christened).

Plus 3: Since then, through his Christian Church, Christ is reaching out to all HUMANKIND to bring them back to God and make them sound and whole again.