What does salvation mean?

Salvation is God's deliverance of the sinner, received by grace through faith and accomplished entirely by Him. Every person is born physically alive but spiritually dead, separated from God because of Adam's sin (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12; 6:23). Salvation is God's answer to that death. When we believe the Gospel — the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ — we are turned around: identified with Christ in His death and resurrection, we become dead to sin and alive to God, a new creation (Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 15:22; 2 Cor. 5:21). It is not the reform of an old life but the gift of a new one. Salvation is the once-for-all victory; the Christian life that follows is the ongoing victory. And it is God's work from first to last — we do not save ourselves. God does the work, God gets the credit, and man gets the blessing.