What is salvation anyway?

What is salvation? The word salvation means different things for different people depending upon an soteriological viewpoint. Salvation is defined as deliverance or preservation with focus on the physical, however the transcendent aspect of salvation is from the wrath of God. Although in systematic theology there are many aspect however my concern is about the assurance of salvation. A clear understanding of the gospel to the believer is of utmost importance therefore without a clear gospel presentation, what then are you placing your trust in. I will not be presenting the gospel message however leading those who are believers who may not understand that there are promises found in scripture that most certainly ensure salvation assurance to the believer in Christ. The assurance of salvation depends heavily upon the believers understanding of the gospel. If the gospel is misunderstood therefore the salvation of the believer is in question. I came across a blog post which was titled “Salvation is not Conversion” it caught my eye and I had some feelings bubbling up within me. As a little background for the last four weeks I have been working as a volunteer chaplain at United Medical Center (UMC) in Southeast Washington D.C. While participating with the ministry I have come across many people who know Jesus, understand his purpose and that they should place their faith in Christ. Which seems that the gospel was communicated to them however the assurance of salvation was not. A question that is easily answered by those who have heard a clear gospel presentation is that "if you died today/tonight and you were to stand before God and God were to ask you why should he let you into heaven? What would your response be?" Out of the 98% of the respondents there answer is they don't what they would tell him. The bloggers point of view from which the post was written was from a Reformed soteriology, so my beef isn’t with the blog post only with the bloggers soteriological viewpoint for assurance salvation. Understanding of the gospel is crucial as it says in Romans 1:16 The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. Even my muslim friend understands the brevity of the passage. Reformed Christians understand salvation not so much on scripture but from doctrinal belief found in the Westminster Larger Catechism that a (true) believer is to persevere until the end. According to the Westminster Larger Catechism question 80 and 81 are answered in my summation, that a the true believer in Christ shall persevere unto salvation however assurance of grace and salvation not being of the essence of faith, therefore true believers may wait long before they obtain it. If a believer who holds to the salvation based on the reformed view, as it stands; were to die before having obtained the essence of faith will die essentially condemned. Therefore the Reformed view is meritorious. The promises found in scripture ensure salvation to those who believe, John 3:16, 5:24, 6:37, 8:1-39. These verses found in John does not say that eventually you will be saved if you believe rather we have eternal life if we believe in Jesus. We are being persevered which is the plan of God stated in Roman 5:7-10, while we were past tense sinners Christ died, now here is the good part “we have now been justified by his blood much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 says he chose us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him, in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. What solidifies our promises and preservation is not something that we can boast about through meritorious works but by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not as a result of words so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8,9)