Genesis 47:25 King James Version (KJV) And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.

I like to look at first use scriptures to gain insight into the meaning of words. Saved, i.e. salvation, has an implication of immediacy in which we sense danger and are relieved from the fear of that danger. A life has been saved and with it comes two important factors, a relationship that expects to receive unmerited favor, grace, and servitude out of gratitude.

What we deem to be a danger in our lives might vary but the attitude towards salvation must always remain the same. We were helpless to save ourselves and needed someone with the power to save us from those dangers to intercede on our behalf.  We must ask ourselves that all important question in order to understand our salvation, what are we being saved from?

Isaiah 64:5 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁵ You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?^[a]

Footnotes: Isaiah 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved

Because sin cannot approach God and we continue in sin we cannot have a personal relationship with God. If we seek Him to save us from anything other than our sin nature, we pray that His forbearance will continue by grace to lead us to that saving grace knowledge we find in accepting His Lordship.

Grace and service thru salvation only comes from His Lordship. This however is only the first salvation. This is salvation from the penalty of sin. Because we accept His Lordship our outcome falls solely in His hands.

John 12:25 English Standard Version (ESV)Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Did we hate our lives when we asked to be saved?

Romans 3:23-25 English Standard Version (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

There are many words here that are worthy of explanation like redemption, propitiation, grace and righteousness but the one that determines our eternal salvation is justified. If we are not justified we are guilty of our sins and God will not overlook them. This takes us back to the beginning of the Passover ritual. Lamb’s blood was upon the doorpost of the people who were not taken the night death passed thru Egypt.

In legal terms, for the court of heaven, can you provide justification for all the sins you ever committed or will commit? If just one sin cannot be justified in that court, you are bound up and cast into the lake of fire with Satan. Here is a hint, sin cannot be justified.

Justification is also a bookkeeping term. Justification is achieved in bookkeeping by applying credit against a debt. Debt is written in red and once the debt is paid, the ledger is said to be in the black.

Romans 4:24b-25 English Standard Version (ESV)

24 … It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Our sins for which Christ died put us in the red. If we believe by faith in His resurrection for our justification, our debt is paid and we move to the right side of the ledger.

Some like to simplify the term by saying “it is just as if it never happened”. While true, it does not by itself explain the mechanism by which God justifies us. He does not justify our sins, He justifies us.