What is Salvation?

What is salvation? There are some strange understandings of salvation that are widely held in Christian circles. But at its root, salvation is God's work of healing a broken creation. In both English and the languages of the Bible, salvation is related to the words for healing and wholeness. Our word salve, which we use to describe a healing ointment, comes from the same root. Salvation, then, is God’s work of healing: bringing freedom to an enslaved world, leading an exiled people home, and reconciling the world to himself. Salvation is God’s work of healing a world afflicted by violence, greed and alienation. It is a work begun in Abraham, brought to fulfillment in Jesus, but not yet finished. It is a work in which we are invited to participate.