O sing to the LORD a new song;sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
If you ask Christian what "salvation" means, many of them will talk about going to heaven. Yet Old Testament texts written long before the Jewish people had any notions of heaven or resurrection often speak of "salvation."
Similarly, the Greek words in the New Testament translated as "save" and "salvation" are thick words, words with many layers of meaning. The phrase so often spoken by Jesus, "Your faith has saved you," can be, and often is, rendered, "Your faith has made you well."
The idea that faith is primarily concerned with the status of souls is not really a biblical one. It required the blending of Jewish and Christian thought into Greco-Roman notions of eternal souls and the true nature of things being non-physical for faith to become preoccupied with non-bodily life.
Jesus says over and over that he comes to bring the kingdom, not that he comes to take us to heaven. Salvation is about delivering us from all that distorts and enslaves us, making us fit for the kingdom. And every time someone is freed to care for neighbor as much as self, every time someone willingly suffers for the good of others, God's salvation is manifested day by day, and a glimpse of the emerging kingdom is seen.
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