⚠️ Every post begins with a question and grows from my ongoing search to know God and understand His purpose for humanity. What you read here reflects my current view—born from study and wonder—and I often revisit and update my writings as I continue to learn and see more clearly.

---

God is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers

“We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all mankind, especially of those who believe.” – 1 Timothy 4:10 (NASB)

God is the Savior of all humanity — and especially of believers. Keep that word especially in mind, because it forms the very foundation of this post. This single sentence from Paul gives us the framework for understanding salvation:

• God is the Savior of all humanity — this is redemption, accomplished in Christ.
  
• Especially of those who believe — this is salvation, experienced through faith.

Everything in Scripture harmonizes with this distinction.

The first is universal and finished.
The second is personal and unfolding.

Discerning the difference between redemption accomplished and salvation experienced is vital. 

If we collapse these two realities into one, we end up with a confusing “salvation saladbar” where people argue over works, decisions, rituals, and denominational formulas instead of resting in the finished rescue of the cross and living out our awakening through faith and Spirit-led action as redeemed creations already united with Christ — a confusion I unpack more fully in my article, Salvation: What Christ Did.

Eternal Redemption — God’s Act Toward All Humanity

Redemption is the divine undoing of Adam, accomplished through Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection.

Redemption is:

• God’s eternal purpose before the foundation of the world

Ephesians 1:4  “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…”

2 Timothy 1:10 “He has saved us and called us… according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”

Romans 8:29 “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”

• The revelation of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world

Revelation 13:8  “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

1 Peter 1:19–20  “…the precious blood of Christ… foreknown before the foundation of the world.”

Ephesians 3:11  “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus.”

• The restoration of humanity to union with God

Colossians 1:19–20  “…through Him to reconcile all things to Himself…”

2 Corinthians 5:18–19  “God… reconciled the world to Himself… not counting their trespasses against them.”

Ephesians 2:13  “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near…”

• The rescue of the human spirit from Adamic death

1 Corinthians 15:22  “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

Romans 5:18  “…through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all mankind.”

Colossians 2:13  “You… were dead… He made you alive together with Him…”

• Our spirit reborn completely — accomplished by God alone, not by our will or our understanding.

Romans 5:6  “While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Romans 5:10  “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God…”

Ephesians 2:5  “…even when we were dead… He made us alive together with Christ…”

This is why Paul boldly declares:  God is the Savior of all mankind.

Humanity was rescued at the level of the spirit in Christ’s own death and resurrection, even before we awaken to it.

This is eternal life (zōē aiōnios) in its eternal sense — the life of the age, secured for all through the Lamb.

Each of these fathers understood redemption as cosmic, completed, and universal in scope — the healing of humanity at its root.

Experienced Salvation — Awakening Into the Kingdom of God

If redemption is what Christ has done for us,  salvation is what the Spirit does in us.

“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13

Salvation (sōzō) means:

• To heal

Matthew 9:22 “…your faith has made you well (sōzō).”

• To make whole

Luke 17:19  “thy faith hath made thee whole (sōzō).”

• To restore

James 5:15 “…the prayer offered in faith will restore (sōzō) the one who is sick.”

• To deliver from ignorance into truth

John 8:32  “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

• To rescue from harm or literal death

Matthew 14:30 “… he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save (sōzō) me!”

While redemption is objective, salvation is subjective — it is the lived experience of the redeemed.

This is the “especially of those who believe.”

Faith does not create salvation — faith experiences what redemption accomplished.

Salvation through faith brings us:

• Out of the flesh → into the Spirit

Galatians 5:25 “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.”

• Out of ignorance → into knowledge

2 Peter 1:2-3 “…His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him…”

• Out of darkness → into light

1 Peter 2:9 “…called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

• Out of blindness → into sight

Acts 26:18 “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light…”

• Out of figurative death → into newness of life

Romans 6:13 “…present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead…”

• Out of Adam’s mindset → into the Last Adam’s truth

Ephesians 4:22–24 “Lay aside the old self… and put on the new self….”

It is here — in the present — that we begin to live as citizens of God’s kingdom and temples of His Spirit.

The early church understood salvation as the soul awakening to the eternal reality already accomplished in Christ.

Darkness vs. Light — Blindness vs. Awakening

“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.” Ephesians 5:8

Scripture’s contrast is not between “saved vs unsaved,” but between:

Darkness (ignorance / death / flesh)

• No knowledge of God

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

• Alienated in the mind

Ephesians 4:18 “…excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them…”

• Governed by sin

2 Peter 2:19 “… people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

Living only as “living souls” in Adam

Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit…”

Light (knowledge / life / Spirit)

• Revelation of Christ within

Galatians 2:20 “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”

• Union with God experienced

Colossians 3:10 “…the new self… is being renewed in true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”

• Governed by the Spirit

Ezekiel 36:26–27 …I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My ways…”

• Bearing the fruit of the Spirit

John 15:5 “He who abides in Me… bears much fruit.”

Redemption is the Light;

Faith gives us the sight to behold it.

Salvation is the contemplation of that Light.

Two Sides of Sōzō

A. Sōzō as Redemption (the finished rescue)

This is:

• The deliverance of humanity from the death of Adam

1 Corinthians 15:22 “…in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

• The restoration of our spirit in Christ

Colossians 2:13 “He made you alive together with Him…”

• The once-for-all act of the cross

Hebrews 10:10 “…we have been sanctified… once for all.”

• The eternal decree of God manifested in time

2 Timothy 1:9 “…His own purpose… granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

• Already accomplished for all

1 John 2:2 “…propitiation… for the whole world.”

This sōzō is already accomplished for all.

B. Sōzō as Salvation (the lived experience)

This is:

• The salvation of the heart (soul)

1 Peter 1:9 “… the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

• The renewal of the mind

Ephesians 4:23 “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind…”

• The life of the Spirit bearing fruit

Romans 8:13–14 “…by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body…”

• The preservation of the body

Proverbs 3:7–8 “… healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.”

• Obeying the Gospel = acknowledging what Christ has done

Romans 6:17 “you… have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed”

This salvation is experienced by believers now, but will be known by all eventually.

Revelation 5:13 —  “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!””

Salvation as Kingdom-Life Now

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom, He never directed us to look upward into the sky or outward into the distance. He pointed within us and among us, to a reality already present and unfolding.

Eternal life is not a future prize waiting beyond death; it is participation in Christ’s life here and now. Eternal life (zōē aiōnios) is knowing God and enjoying a relationship with our Father and Savior —  “And this is eternal life…” (John 17:3)

Do you think faith is something humans invented? No! 

Faith is the awakening of our spirit from within — a spark ignited by the very life of Jesus Himself. He is both the Author and the Perfector of our faith, drawing us into this awakened life by His Spirit, opening our eyes to the reality already ours in Him.

Faith doesn’t create the kingdom, Faith opens our eyes to:

• God’s presence

Acts 17:27  “…He is not far from each one of us.”

• God’s voice

Hebrews 3:7 “Today if you hear His voice…”

• God’s love

1 John 4:16 “We have come to know and believe the love which God has for us.”

• God’s kingdom

Luke 17:21 “…the kingdom of God is within you.”

• Christ’s indwelling life

Colossians 1:27 “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Those who believe taste the life of the age to come (zōē aiōnios) in the present.
Those who do not will still one day awaken, for:

“All shall know Me.”
“All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

The prophets saw it clearly.

Universal Redemption and Personal Salvation — One Gospel

1 Timothy 4:10 keeps us grounded:

God is the Savior of all mankind —
Especially [not exclusivelly] of those who believe.

This simple revelation holds the entire Gospel in balance:

• Redemption is universal, eternal, and finished.
  
• Salvation is personal, experiential, and begins with faith.
  

Everyone has been redeemed in Christ.
Not everyone is awakened to it yet.

But one day they will be.

“at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2:10-11

The Eternal Act and the Present Awakening

Redemption is God’s eternal act toward humanity.
Salvation is humanity’s awakening into that act.

Redemption restores our spirit.
Salvation heals our soul.

Redemption is finished.
Salvation is unfolding.

Redemption is universal.
Salvation is experienced “especially” by those who believe.

But both flow from the same Father, Lamb, the same love, and the same eternal plan.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:4–6There is only one Gospel: the universal victory of God, received in time by faith,
and revealed to all in the end when every eye sees and every heart understands.

---

FAQs