Save Means More Than You Think!

​Another commonly misunderstood word in the New Testament is the Greek word Sozo.  Too often people assume it always means saved from hell.  The truth is it is used of being saved from a lot of things besides hell.  Sozo is a verb whose primary meaning is preserve, rescue or save.  From what one is being preserved, rescued or saved is determined from the context in which the word is used. 
 
For example, in Matthew 9 a woman was healed of a bloody discharge by touching Jesus Christ’s robe.  When she touched Him, he turned to her and said “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.”  The word translated as ‘made well’ is the Greek word Sozo (Perfect active indictive form).   In Romans 5:9 & 10 Paul used the word Sozo to mean preserving or redeeming one’s physical life after salvation.  He distinguished being save as different than being justified and reconciled to God. So, he was speaking of being saved the wages of ongoing sin, suffering God’s disciple.  The Apostle James also wrote about this in his letter.   
 
James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.  The word souls is translating the Greek word Psyche which means life.  Rendering it as souls is misleading in contemporary English and it doesn’t really fit the context.  James referred to his readers as beloved brethren in 1:19, so he was addressing this to people with everlasting life.  Therefore, we should read v. 21 as ‘save your lives’ meaning their physical lives.  That sets the context for this next section that runs from James 1:22 thru 2:26.    
 
James 1:22 starts with the call to be doers of the Word and not just Hearers.  It is a call to put their faith into action by doing good works.  He then gave a partial listing of the good works he had in mind.  And that is the context in which he wrote James 2:14 - What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  Again, he called his readers brethren so we know he was writing this to believers.  James 2:14 is not about being saved from hell, but is all about saving physical life from the wages of sin.  More on that later.