About a year ago I wrote a post called, Believe in Your Heart. In it I talked about the difference between head and heart knowledge of who Jesus is. We talked about Romans 10:9-10 (ESV) “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Today I want to look at the meaning of saved in these two verses.
Romans 10:9 (ESV) says, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The Greek word for saved in this verse is ‘sozo.’ Sozo is an all-encompassing word that means, “to be made whole.” This wholeness is for the spirit, soul, and body.
Sozo is the Healing of Your Spirit
Sozo is the healing of your spirit by bringing your spirit to life. Before you are saved, your spirit is dead, and only Jesus can bring it to life. He brings your spirit to life, and then the Holy Spirit is able to speak to your spirit and teach you truth. Your spirit is now able to hear the voice of Holy Spirit. Listening to the voice of Holy Spirit is imperative if we are going to see the truth of events happening in our world.
I have noticed that people who are in constant communion with Holy Spirit and keep their focus on Jesus are the people who see through the lies and deceit of the world, which tries to convince everyone that lies are actually true. The Holy Spirit will show you what is true and what is a lie if you just ask him. However, your spirit must have that sozo event in order to be alive to hear the voice of Holy Spirit.
Sozo is the Healing of the Soul
Sozo is the healing of the soul. The soul is the part of you where your mind, will, and emotions live. When your spirit comes to life, you then have the ability to have your soul come under the authority of your spirit instead of your spirit being under the authority of your soul. Before you are saved your soul rules your whole being. You do what “feels right” because your soul is in charge. However, God designed our souls to be under the authority of our God-filled spirit. This is where the internal battle lies after we are saved. Our soul has been in charge until our spirit comes to life.
When our spirit comes to life, our soul is supposed to submit to it. The thing about our soul is it likes to be in charge. Our soul is terrible at being in charge because it often makes bad choices. Our spirit on the other hand is great at making decisions when it listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit living there. When your soul was in charge, it made decisions that damaged your mind, will, and emotions. When Jesus comes in, he heals those damaged areas. He sozos your soul.
Sozo is Healing of Your Body
Sozo is healing of your body. Part of the gift of salvation is the healing of your body. It doesn’t matter what is wrong with it, God desires to heal your physical body just as much as he wants to heal your spirit and soul. The thing about your body being healed is that oftentimes your soul and spirit must be in alignment. If your soul is in charge and telling you to hold onto unforgiveness and bitterness, your body will hold onto those feelings as well, and the healing of your physical body is likely hindered. Still I believe that it is God’s desire to heal his kids from all physical, spiritual, and emotional ailments.
This is where my study of the word ‘saved’ in the two verses in Romans stopped for me. It never occurred to me to look at the second word ‘saved’ in those verses. However, I was recently reading through these verses again. When I came to Romans 10:10 (ESV), “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” and read the word ‘saved,’ I decided to look it up. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this word for saved is not sozo. This word for saved is ‘soteria.’ One of the definitions for this word is, “deliverance from the molestation of enemies.” It also means “to be rescued and to be safe.”
Soteria Saves us From Our Enemies
So not only does Jesus desire to heal us in every way possible, but he wants to rescue us from being molested by our enemies. Who are our enemies? Ephesians 6:12 (NLT) tells us exactly who our enemies are:
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
Let’s look at how the ESV describes our enemies in this same verse:
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
Our enemies are demons. The entire goal of demons is to control and destroy people. They are NEVER our friend, even if they pretend to be. They are ALWAYS our worst enemy. Although they have more power over us before we are saved, after salvation they can only have the power we allow them through agreement. We still give them open doors after we are saved to come torment us. While they can no longer possess us, they can oppress us. When we allow our soul to be in charge, we are more likely to open doors to allow demons access to our mind, will, and emotions. They do have the ability to influence the way we think, and our thinking affects our actions.
The Good News
The good news is Jesus wants us to be saved from the influence of demons. He wants to give us soteria-freedom from the molestation of demons. Remember what Romans 10:10 (ESV) says, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
When you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is in charge of your life, you will be soteria. Ridding ourselves of the influence of demons in all areas of our lives is important. We do this by putting on our spiritual armor (found in Ephesians 6:13-20). Keeping our soul in submission to our spirit, which is led by the Holy Spirit, is priority. We do this by speaking the truth to ourselves, both out loud and in our minds, no matter what our situation looks like. There is power in the spoken word. Demons hate truth, and truth will always win over lies.
Salvation is so much more than just getting a ticket to live in Heaven when we die. True salvation is a complete healing of our spirit, soul, and body. True salvation is ridding our lives of the influence of demons. Salvation is living in freedom today; it is living in abundant life. We only need to accept the gift of salvation. Will you accept the gift of both sozo-healing of your spirit, soul, and body and soteria-freedom from the molestation of your enemies?
Prayer:
Lord, today I want your full-package of salvation. I want your spiritual, soul, and bodily healing. Jesus, I declare you as my Lord today. I believe with my heart that God raised you from the dead. I believe I am justified because of your great work and that my slate has been cleansed. Thank you for taking my sin upon the cross, for dying for me, so that I can live in your righteousness. I confess today with my mouth, out loud, that I am saved, healed in my spirit, my soul, and my body.
Today, Lord Jesus, I come out of agreement with the lies of the devil. I come into agreement with the Holy Spirit. Please show me what you think of me when you see me. Please show me who I am in Christ and who Christ is in me.
Today, I decide to forgive every person that has sinned against me. I give up all bitterness and unforgiveness and lay them down at the foot of the cross. Help me to forgive, Lord! Root out any bitterness in my life; may it not rule over me! I renounce all sin in my life, all chains of bondage, even those sins that were done in my family line. I renounce all ties to the occult or witchcraft. I renounce any sexual sin. That old person is gone and dead. I am a new creation in Christ. A new day starts today! I am free! Hallelujah, I am free!
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