Soteria can be defined as deliverance, preservation, safety and salvation.  According to author and Bible teacher A.W. Pink, it’s a fourfold salvation:  we are saved from the penalty, power, presence and most importantly, the pleasure of sin.   The Greek noun SOTERIA has a related verb, SOZO.  Sozo is a Greek word translated “saved, healed, delivered.” It’s the complete package that we need to be completely set free in body, soul and spirit. 

Three days ago I had a little accident coming down a few steps in the dark.  I missed the last step, rolled my ankle and it resulted in me being fitted with a moon boot.  To be honest, it could just as well have been a ball and chain.  As much as it helps me walk without suffering more pain than necessary, it’s heavy, cumbersome and it slows me down.  However, I have noticed that the longer I wear it, the more I am becoming accustomed to the weight and awkwardness of the boot.  I have adjusted my gait to compensate for the height of the boot in relation to my other leg.  I look funny when I walk, but I get around just fine.

It got me thinking about salvation and the gospel of the kingdom.  So many Christians believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is our ticket out of hell.  It’s a “one day” salvation, the good news being that we don’t go to hell when we die even if living every day feels like being in hell already.  While we are walking the earth on our little human legs, we do it with a moon boot on our foot and we’re hanging on for dear life until the day we go to heaven or Jesus returns, whichever comes first. We have adjusted to living with a measure of salvation, settling for getting by as long as we don’t suffer too much pain.

Or there’s the gospel of the rollerblades.  We get saved and all is forgiven and therefore we get our skates on and have licence to live for ourselves, do whatever gives us pleasure and we serve nothing and no one but our own desires. Neither of these is the true gospel.

Then what is?  I have much to learn, but here is what I know…

1. Jesus stripped our enemies of all power, making a public spectacle of them and triumphed over them in every imaginable way (Col. 2:15).  The enemy was stripped naked…he has nothing left but deception and the power we give him.  A complete victory was won.
2. Jesus is the head of the everything.  Everything under, on and above the earth is under His authority and He is FAR above any ruler, power, principality and authority (Eph. 1:21, 22)
3. Jesus delegated that authority to us. We have the authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy(Luke 10:19)
4. As King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus has full authority to rule over kingdoms and nations and that authority has also been delegated to us.  We are not supposed to be subject to kings and governments.  No, as His body, we are called to make kings and their kingdoms, and governments and their people subject to Jesus Christ.

Which bring me back to soteria, or salvation. In order for us to share the true gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to be saved.  We need complete freedom in body, soul and spirit. We cannot fulfil our great calling while we are walking around with a moon boot on our foot.  Jesus completed our salvation.  In Christ, there is no penalty, presence, power or pleasure of sin and He has made provision for our total freedom from everything and anything the enemy can throw at us, body, soul and spirit.  This is the gospel of the Kingdom!  We have victory, freedom, power and dominion through Christ Jesus.  He paid such a high price for it…how dare we settle for anything less!

The apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians (and also to us)

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.  (Ephesians 1:17 – 23)

I bless you with “the fullness of HIM who fills everything (and every one of us who call ourselves by His name) in every way.