Those who believe Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient to God to erase all of our sins and allow us to be sinless in his eyes, and will not deny this belief will attain eternal life.
 The articles of this covenant are very extraordinary, which are sealed between God and his people by baptism and the Lord's supper; whereby they bind themselves to their part, and God assures them he will do his part; and his is the main and principal part, on which his people depend for grace and strength to do theirs. Here,
      ...
God articles with them about the pardon of their sins, as what always accompanies the true knowledge of God: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, etc. Observe,
 [1.] The freeness of this pardon. It does not result from merit in man, but from mercy in God; he pardons for his own name's sake.
 [2.] the fullness of this pardon; it extends to their unrighteousness, sins, and iniquities; to all kinds of sin, to sins highly aggravated.
 [3.] the fixedness of this pardon. It is so final and so fixed that God will remember their sins no more; he will not recall his pardon; he will not only forgive their sins, but forget them, treat them as if he had forgotten them. This pardoning mercy is connected with all other spiritual mercies. Unpardoned sin prevents mercy, and pulls down judgments; but the pardon of sin prevents judgment, and opens a wide door to all spiritual blessings; it is the effect of that mercy that is from everlasting, and the earnest of that mercy that shall be to everlasting. This is the excellency of the new dispensation, and these are the articles of it; and therefore we have no reason to repine, but great reason to rejoice that the former dispensation is antiquated and has vanished away.

 In the Old Testament, the word salvation sometimes refers to deliverance from danger <Jer. 15:20>, deliverance of the weak from an oppressor <Ps. 35:9-10>, the healing of sickness <Is. 38:20>, and deliverance from blood guilt and its consequences <Ps. 51:14>. It may also refer to national deliverance from military threat <Ex. 14:13> or release from captivity <Ps. 14:7>. But salvation finds its deepest meaning in the spiritual realm of life. Man's universal need for salvation is one of the clearest teachings of the Bible.
 The need for salvation goes back to man's removal from the Garden of Eden <Gen. 3>. After the Fall, man's life was marked by strife and difficulty. Increasingly, corruption and violence dominated his world <Gen. 6:11-13>. When God destroyed the world with the Flood, He also performed the first act of salvation by saving Noah and his family. These eight people became the basis of another chance for mankind. The salvation of Noah and his family was viewed by the apostle Peter as a pattern of that full salvation which we receive in Christ <1 Pet. 3:18-22>.
 The central Old Testament experience of salvation is the Exodus <Ex. 12:40--14:31>. Much of Israel's worship of God was a renewal of this mighty experience that brought them from tyranny in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land <Ex. 13:3-16>. The mighty saving power of God was demonstrated dramatically as the Israelites formed a holy nation of priestly servants of the Lord <Ex. 19:4-6>. The Exodus became a pattern of salvation by which God's future deeds of redemption would be understood.
 But just as the Exodus symbolized their salvation, the Captivity of the Israelites in Babylon was a disastrous return to bondage. The people responded to this plight with expectations of a new and better Exodus <Is. 43:14-16> in which God would forgive their sins and restore their hearts to faithfulness <Jer. 31:31-34>.
 This hope for a new Exodus merged with expectation of a full realization of the rule of God <Ezek. 36:22-38>. Since God was Lord and had shown Himself to be righteous and faithful, He must one day overpower His enemies and perfect the life of His people. This hope is expressed through the concept of the "day of the Lord" as described by the Old Testament prophets <Joel 2:1-11; Amos 9:11-15>. But this hope also focused on the role of the Anointed King and the coming of the Messiah <Psalm 2>.
 Even Israel's return from the Captivity, however, failed to fulfill all their hopes <Hag. 2:3>. So a new understanding arose: the full realization of God's purpose of salvation would involve the coming of a completely new age <Is. 65:17-25>. This doctrine of salvation reached its fulfillment in the death of Christ on our behalf. Jesus' mission was to save the world from sin and the wrath of God <Matt. 1:21; John 12:47; Rom. 5:9>. During His earthly ministry, salvation was brought to us by His presence and the power of faith <Luke 19:9-10>. Now, our salvation is based on His death and resurrection <Mark 10:25>.
 The salvation that comes through Christ may be described in three tenses: past, present, and future. When a person believes in Christ, he is saved <Acts 16:31>. But we are also in the process of being saved from the power of sin <Rom. 8:13; Phil. 2:12>. Finally, we shall be saved from the very presence of sin <Rom. 13:11; Titus 2:12-13>. God releases into our lives today the power of Christ's resurrection <Rom. 6:4> and allows us a foretaste of our future life as His children <2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:14>. Our experience of salvation will be complete when Christ returns <Heb. 9:28> and the kingdom of God is fully revealed <Matt. 13:41-43>.
 Also see ADOPTION, ATONEMENT, CONVERSION, FORGIVENESS, JUSTIFICATION, RANSOM, RECONCILIATION, REDEMPTION, REGENERATION.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
(Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

A. Nouns.
 1. soteria ^4991^ denotes "deliverance, preservation, salvation." "Salvation" is used in the NT (a) of material and temporal deliverance from danger and apprehension, (1) national, <Luke 1:69,71; Acts 7:25>, RV marg., "salvation" (text, "deliverance"); (2) personal, as from the sea, <Acts 27:34>; RV, "safety" (KJV, "health"); prison, <Phil. 1:19>; the flood, Heb. 11:7; (b) of the spiritual and eternal deliverance granted immediately by God to those who accept His conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, in whom alone it is to be obtained, <Acts 4:12>, and upon confession of Him as Lord, <Rom. 10:10>; for this purpose the gospel is the saving instrument, <Rom. 1:16; Eph. 1:13> (see further under SAVE); (c) of the present experience of God's power to deliver from the bondage of sin, e. g., <Phil. 2:12>, where the special, though not the entire, reference is to the maintenance of peace and harmony; <1 Pet. 1:9>; this present experience on the part of believers is virtually equivalent to sanctification; for this purpose, God is able to make them wise, <2 Tim. 3:15>; they are not to neglect it, <Heb. 2:3>; (d) of the future deliverance of believers at the Parousia of Christ for His saints, a salvation which is the object of their confident hope, e. g., <Rom. 13:11; 1 Thes. 5:8>, and <v. 9>, where "salvation" is assured to them, as being deliverance from the wrath of God destined to be executed upon the ungodly at the end of this age (see <1 Thes. 1:10>); <2 Thes. 2:13; Heb. 1:14; 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5; 2 Pet. 3:15>; (e) of the deliverance of the nation of Israel at the second advent of Christ at the time of "the epiphany (or shining forth) of His Parousia" <2 Thes. 2:8>; <Luke 1:71; Rev. 12:10>; (f) inclusively, to sum up all the blessings bestowed by God on men in Christ through the Holy Spirit, e. g., <2 Cor. 6:2; Heb. 5:9; 1 Pet. 1:9, 10; Jude 3>; (g) occasionally, as standing virtually for the Savior, e. g., <Luke 19:9>; cf. <John 4:22> (see SAVIOR); (h) in ascriptions of praise to God, <Rev. 7:10>, and as that which it is His prerogative to bestow, <19:1> (RV).
 2. soterion ^4992^, the neuter of the adjective (see B), is used as a noun in <Luke 2:30; 3:6>, in each of which it virtually stands for the Savior, as in No. 1 (g); in <Acts 28:28>, as in No. 1 (b); in <Eph. 6:17>, where the hope of "salvation" [see No. 1 (d)] is metaphorically described as "a helmet."#
 B. Adjective.
 soterios ^4992^, "saving, bringing salvation," describes the grace of God, in <Titus 2:11>.#
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words)
(Copyright (C) 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

 The Judgment of the Cross. This is the judgment upon sin effected by Christ when He said, "It is finished" <John 19:30>. It is the basis of the believer's salvation when he believes. Christ has borne the sinner's guilt and in Him, as a substitute for all on behalf of whom He died, sin has been judged. The one who believes on Christ has been released from judgment, and "there is therefore now no condemnation" <John 5:24; Rom. 8:1; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:26-28; 1 Pet. 2:24>.
(from New Unger's Bible Dictionary)
(originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois.  Copyright (C) 1988.)