The gravity of our plight and the greatness of God's love are brought home to us by the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. The New Testament speaks of salvation in various ways. Salvation is ultimate or eschatological rescue from sin and its consequences, the final state of safety and glory to which we are brought in both body and soul.
Salvation is also a present reality.
The present reality of salvation is an anticipation and foretaste of salvation in its promised fullness. Always it is clear that the work of redemption has been accomplished by Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. Christ redeemeds us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. When the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Justification is central to the scriptural account of salvation, and its meaning has been much debated between Protestants and Catholics.