So, while an intuitive concept of 'being saved' is firmly in place, the details and specifics aren't. Textual evidence about the topic is interesting, in terms of verb forms.
The verb is used in the past tense 'saved' in loci like II Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5, Romans 8:24, and Ephesians 2:5-8.
The future tense appears in Romans 5:9-10, Romans 13:11, I Corinthians 3:12-15, and I Timothy 4:16, Hebrews 9:28, and Matthew 24:13.
Verbs hint at a present process of "working out one's salvation" in Philippians 2:12, I Corinthians 1:18, I Corinthians 15:2, and Acts 2:47.
The average layman is probably inclined to answer "yes" to the questions "Are you saved?" and "Will you be saved?" A slight rewording to "Have you been saved?" will probably also elicit an affirmative response. The question "Are you being saved?" might evoke more puzzlement than anything else.
These linguistic riddles may serve to remind us that there is a broader meaning to 'save' than merely a ticket into the afterlife. Salvation has implications for humans in this life as well. Aside from what happens to us after death, salvation is both a comfort and challenge in this life, as Kierkegaard put it - both a Trost and a Forderung or even a Herausforderung.
Being "saved" in this life is, then, both an asset and a task. Salvation, in the broader sense, involves the power of God in our daily lives here and now: the power to live through suffering without losing our inner peace. Salvation also includes sanctification, as the Holy Spirit works in us to continually refine us and make us into what God wants us to be.
