The term "salvation" comes from several roots: the Old French "salvacion", the Latin "salva", and more broadly the Greek "soteria". All three share the common theme of being saved or rescued from harm or destruction, and when applied to Scripture it becomes very obvious that what we need saving from is our rightfully-deserved punishment in Hell. Many people balk at this, asking why a loving God would allow anyone to be eternally sentenced for a crime it took them only moments to commit. There's a few things to consider in response, and the first is God's inherent nature. He is perfectly loving, but He is also perfectly just, and as such He must by definition punish those who disobey Him - no one gets a free pass. Also, because God is eternal and we are not, that means any crime against Him must be paid for indefinitely. The only other solution is to present a replacement for us that shares His own nature, and that's who Jesus is. Also, people often mistake what Hell involves, thinking its a place where people are roasted alive by laughing demons forever...but the Bible never paints that picture. The popular word often used to describe that reality is "torture", but the Biblical one is "torment", and there's an important difference. Simply put, torture is done from the outside by others, while torment is self-inflicted. We aren't given a fully detailed picture of Hell in the Bible - its often been open for interpretation by Hollywood and writers like Dante. But whatever the fullness of it, the core essence involves permanent separation of sinners from God. Author C.S. Lewis once used this description: "Hell is nothing but yourself, for all eternity".