Welcome to Conscious Curiosity: "zoom in" edition—a monthly email that offers useful tidbits from the experts on relationships, faith & psychology. Basically cliff notes for grown-ups!
On sozo
Conscious Curiosity: Edition No. 5
{faith}
How to understand the Greek word for salvation: “sozo,” explained.
How you ever wondered what the New Testament authors meant when they wrote about salvation? Or what they wanted to convey to their audience when they wrote verses like Matthew 18:11: “For the Son of Man has come to save [sozo] that which was lost”?
The Greek word “sozo” is used over 100 times in the New Testament & is the all-encompassing term for salvation.
However, the word has a much more rich & full meaning than it may appear. According to Strong’s Concordance, Sozo means “to save, heal, deliver, to be made whole.”
In other words, when we read the word “save” in the New Testament, we can understand it to mean more than just being rescued from danger—but rescued for the purpose of being fully restored & made whole.
Psychologist & author Dr. Alison Cook says, “God is a God of healing. God wants to heal & restore heart, soul, mind, & body. Healing is the heart of God's work on this earth.
Through this lens, many New Testament passages take on a whole new meaning if you imagine the word "heal" or "make whole" where sozo was translated as "save":
Matthew 1:21 - “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will {save, heal, make whole} his people from their sins.”
Mark 5:34 - "He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has {saved, healed, made whole} you. Go in peace & be freed from your suffering.”
John 3:17 - "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to {save, heal, make whole} the world through him."
In Philippians 2, Paul says we’re to “work out our salvation with fear & trembling.”
Here again, Dr. Alison Cook teaches that a deeper understanding of sozo brings this into focus that we are working out our healing with fear & trembling. She says:
What if that is the heart of who God is—to heal us, to heal our wounds?
What if God uses science to heal?
What if God uses medicine to heal?
What if God uses therapists & doctors to help you heal?
What if God uses the safety of healthy people around you to help you heal?
What if God heals through His presence?
All of these things matter as we think about a God who ultimately is about healing. He's about restoring, He's about making things whole.
As Eastertide comes to a close, when we read Isaiah 53:5, “…by His wounds we are healed,” we can know that God’s desire isn’t just to save us from sin, but to make us whole—emotionally, spiritually & physically.
***Note from Ansley:***
the times & places that I feel the "sozo" heart of God the most deeply, just like in my bones, is when I'm in nature. I know I'm not alone in that—I'm sure many of you can relate to being able to sense God's presence more easily when you're in the mountains or sitting by the ocean or walking by a river. For me, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado are my thin place, where the veil between heaven & earth is permeable, almost see-through...where the ground is sacred. It's my soul home, a place where God & I have done some WORK over the years in the deep places & I can point to some real healing. Which brings me to sozo.
Even in English, the root of the word "salvation" is "salve": a balm used to heal wounds. While we walk through this life, still carrying our wounds & working out our healing, awaiting the day when He will make all things new, I think God gives us these thin places, these glimpses through the veil, when God draws near to us and when we draw near to each other. They can be physical places like the Rocky Mountains or your favorite beach, but they can also be moments—times when we let our guard down & let ourselves be fully known by our spouse or a trusted friend, or when music transcends words & strikes just the right chord in your soul, or taking in a sunset on a summer night when for just a few moments, your spirit feels at rest. Or certainly some of the thinnest places are at the threshold of life's beginning or ending: hearing your baby's first cry, or kneeling at the bedside of a loved one, holding their hand as they transition from earth's domain to God's domain. We experience the presence of our sozo God in those thin places, when God draws near to us & when we draw near to each other, bearing witness to the ways He is healing & restoring.
Whether on this side of heaven or the next, God will make good on His purpose & promise to make all things new, to carry on to completion the good works that He began. And between now & that time, whenever it may be, those glimpses through the veil are signposts of our sozo God who is restoring all of creation to wholeness.
Curious to learn more? Recommended resources below:
{relationships: fun fact}
Did you know that according to John & Julie Gottman, mathematicians turned leading researchers on marital stability & divorce prediction, the first three minutes of a conversation predicts the outcome (e.g. whether or not the conflict is resolved)?
96% of the time, the way you bring up an issue with your partner determines the way the conversation will go—and even more incredibly, the John Gottman's research showed that after observing just 180 seconds of a conflict, he could predict whether or not the couple would still be together six years later. When a conversation begins with a "harsh startup" (blame, criticism, etc), Gottman's research shows it almost always leads to negative outcomes—both in that specific conversation & the relationship trajectory as a whole.
(more to come soon from The Gottman Institute & their insights into relationships!)
{psychology: fun fact}
Did you know that the reason most people tend to get their best ideas in the shower is because:
1) for most of us, it's when we're away from screens long enough to let our minds wander without being able to distract ourselves via screens
2) studies show that the areas of the brain responsible for creative thinking are the most active when we are having "free-flowing, spontaneous thoughts during a moderately engaging activity," such as showering, exercising or driving.
Takeaway: carve out more time away from screens to boost creative thinking!
July | topic preview: {psychology}
What do our brains care about more than anything else? Neuroception, explained.
August | topic preview: {relationships}
What makes a relationship happy & healthy?
Gottmans' Marriage Masters & Disasters, explained.
That’s all for the fifth edition of Conscious Curiosity!
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Stay tuned for the next edition dropping June 15th!
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What to expect from Conscious Curiosity emails:
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on the 1st of each month: "zoom in" editions with useful tidbits from the experts on relationships, faith & psychology.
- one "deep dive" + two fun facts, rotating spotlight between topics (relationships, faith & psychology)
- sneak peak of next month's content
- on the 15th of each month: "zoom out" editions with quick insights from experts & thought leaders to help us think about how we think.
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