Definition of Salvation

It is impossible to give ONE Definition of Salvation. The reason for this is that there are two punishments that every sinner will have to suffer. The first punishment that every sinner will have to suffer is Spiritual Death – to be cut off from the presence of God. The second punishment that every sinner will have to suffer is Temporal Death - the separation of our spirit from our body, meaning that our body is laid in a grave, never to rise again. With two eternal punishments to be saved from, we obviously need more than one definition of salvation. The definitions will be given in reversed order;

The First Definition of Salvation - Universal salvation - comes by grace alone. This salvation consists in the reuniting of body and spirit in a resurrection, so that the resurrected personage lives forever. Obedience to gospel law is no pre-requisite. This salvation is synonymous with immortality. This salvation on its own is not the salvation of the righteous, the salvation which the saints seek. Those who gain only this salvation will be judged according to their works in this life, and receive their rewards in another sphere than in the heaven where the Saints will be joint-heirs with Christ.

The Second Definition of Salvation - Individual salvation - which comes by grace coupled with gospel obedience. This salvation consists in receiving an inheritance in the heavenly kingdom of God. This kind of salvation comes as the result of faith, repentance, baptism, receipt of the Holy Ghost, and continued righteousness to the end of one's mortal probation.  

Jesus came into the world to redeem his people; and he took ‘upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else’.

Except for the loosing of the bands of death, for the wicked it will be as if there had been no redemption made, and the day will come when’ all shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according to their works’.

Salvation in its true and full meaning is synonymous with eternal life and consists in gaining an inheritance in the highest of the three heavens. This is Paul’s definition of salvation;

40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:40-42)

With few exceptions this salvation, likened to the glory of the sun, is the salvation of which the scriptures speak. It is the salvation which the saints seek.

Full salvation is attained by virtue of knowledge, truth, righteousness, and all true principles. Many conditions must exist in order to make such salvation available to men. Without the atonement, the gospel, the priesthood and the ordinances thereof, there would be no salvation.

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