Among the root meanings of the word "salvation" as set forth by Bible scholars is the inspiriting phrase, "to save alive." How instantly this thought dispels a sort of theological gloom which has settled upon this word "salvation" from time to time in its Christian history, threatening to rob it of its force and beauty! The original Greek word used in the New Testament, we are told, is also a buoyant word in its root significance, implying health and well-being, so that there is no justification for riveting attention to the idea of escape from evil, when referring to salvation. From the human standpoint, we are unspeakably grateful for this escape, but enlightened thought presses forward into the promised land of good.
The Christian Scientist is well aware that "man as God's idea is already saved with an everlasting salvation," as Mrs. Eddy teaches (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 261). But it is evident that this radiant fact of being is obscured by mists of false belief, and that mankind stands in need of deliverance from misconceptions. Scientifically, it is impossible to conceive of anything but the truth of being; but human misconceptions, having no foundation whatever in fact, and no relation to pure thinking, must be cleared away. The starting point of this intelligent procedure, however, is not negative. The object of denying error is to reveal the truth.
Salvation, then, is a decidedly life-giving, or life-revealing, process, and should never be shrouded in a depressing, repressing, or merely disciplinary atmosphere. This mistaken sense of salvation is attached to it by mortal mind, which clings to its fleshpots and sees only a vacuum in the absence of its own self-indulgence. To the spiritually awakened sense, however, this apparent vacuum is filled with Life itself, with all beauty, all love, all joy, all goodness. Expression, not repression, is the law of being. We renounce the false with its disappointments and frustrations to make room for the true, for that which so fulfills and satisfies that we are impelled to share the truth we have discovered.
