RESCUE, deliverance, coming through alive — an everyday Greek word long before it was a religious one. A doctor achieves sōtēria for a patient; a general achieves it for a besieged city; a ship's crew achieves it in a storm (Acts 27:34 uses it of simply surviving the wreck). The related sōtēr, 'saviour', was a standing title of Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors, which is part of what makes Romans 1:16 pointed: the letter announces a rival deliverer to the city that minted the coins. → first discussed at Rom 1:16