The New Testament reveals that the believers are saved from the law, the curse of the law, the bondage of the law, and the labor and burden under the law. Galatians 4:4 and 5 indicate that God sent forth His Son to redeem us from under law, and Romans 6:14 tells us that we are no longer under the law. This is to be saved from the law. Galatians 3:13 declares, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf.” As our Substitute on the cross, Christ not only bore the curse for us but also became a curse for us. Therefore, we are saved from the curse of the law. Furthermore, the book of Galatians emphasizes the fact that we are saved from the bondage of the law (Gal. 5:1; 4:7; 5:13; 2:4). Furthermore, we are saved from the labor and burden under the law. This is clearly indicated by the Lord’s word in Matthew 11:28: “Come to Me all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
The believers are saved from sins and from the power of sin. Christ has saved us from our sins (Matt. 1:21), having “carried up our sins in His body onto the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24) and dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3). Also, by being the reality, Christ has set us free from the power of sin (John 8:34, 36, 32). Therefore, we have the forgiveness of sins through Him (Acts 10:43) and deliverance from the power of sin (Rom. 6:6, 7, 18).
In God’s salvation we are saved from the flesh, the old man, and Adam. Colossians 2:11 tells us that in Christ we were “circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.” This indicates that through the crucifixion of Christ, which was a universal circumcision, we have been saved from the flesh. In Romans 6:6 Paul says, “Our old man has been crucified with Him,” and in Colossians 3:9 he says that we have “put off the old man with his practices.” We have been saved from the old man, who was created by God but who became fallen through sin. Moreover, we have been saved from Adam by being transferred out of Adam into Christ (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12, 17, 19). In Adam we had sin and death, but in Christ we have righteousness and life.
As believers, we are saved from the fear and slavery of death, Satan, the oppression of Satan, the authority of Satan, and darkness. Hebrews 2:14 and 15 say, “Since therefore the children have partaken of blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the Devil; and might release those who through fear of death through all their life were held in slavery.” Because Christ has destroyed the Devil who has the might of death, He has saved us from the fear and slavery of death. The Lord Jesus has also saved us from Satan and from Satan’s oppression and authority. We have been turned from the authority of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). We have also been turned from darkness to light, having been transferred out of Satan’s death-realm of darkness into God’s life-realm of light.
In Galatians 1:4 we see that the Lord Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us out of the present evil age.” According to the context of the book of Galatians and as confirmed by Galatians 6:14-15, the present evil age refers to the religious world. Galatians 1:4 emphasizes the fact that the purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us out, of the present evil religious age. Because we have been saved from the religious world, we are no longer in “slavery under the elements of the world” (Gal. 4:3), elementary principles that refer to the rudimentary teachings of the law. We have been saved from the religious world and its elements.