Michael Horton in The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World looks at the question of "saved from what?” in light of the various theories of the Atonement, as the answer varies among Christians today.
He then offers his answer.
Christ’s work is completed in the context of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. He is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”; the kinsman-redeemer who purchases his brothers and sisters out of the slave market; the Lord who bears the servant’s curse, propitiates the Father’s wrath, and reconciles us to God. Because he died as the vicarious sacrifice for sinners, he has conquered the evil powers, undone Adam’s transgression and fulfilled his mission, demonstrated God’s righteous government and inexpressible love, and vindicated his honor in history. Yet all of these other important aspects of Christ’s saving work can only be true if in fact his vicarious, substitutionary sin-bearing lies at its heart. What are we saved from? God! We are saved from God’s wrath by God himself, because God is love, (pg. 80-81).
Amen and amen. God’s justice and love meet at the cross of Christ.
