The Nature of Salvation

I have enjoyed the following joke for years:

Jesus and Satan have a discussion as to who is the better programmer. This goes on for a few hours until they come to an agreement to hold a contest, with God as the judge. They sit themselves at their computers and begin. They type furiously, lines of code streaming up the screen, for several hours straight. Seconds before the end of the competition, a bolt of lightning strikes, taking out the electricity. Moments later, the power is restored, and God announces that the contest is over. 

He asks Satan to show what he has come up with. Satan is visibly upset, and cries, "I have nothing. I lost it all when the power went out." 

"Very well, then," says God, "let us see if Jesus fared any better." 

Jesus enters a command, and the screen comes to life in vivid display, the voices of an angelic choir pour forth from the speakers. Satan is astonished. 

He stutters, "B-b-but how? I lost everything, yet Jesus' program is intact. How did he do it?" 

God smiled all-knowingly, "Jesus saves."

“Jesus Saves.” Right at the center of the Christian faith is the proclamation that salvation comes from Jesus. This claim is painted on signs and printed on posters attached to trees, billboards, and fenceposts.

This proclamation is such an integral part of the Christian message that it serves as a sort of code or shorthand among believers but just what is meant by “salvation?” What are we saved from and what are we saved into? Why do we need saving, and how does salvation work?

These are questions that go to the heart of what Jesus was all about. Let’s first briefly visit one idea about salvation that is popular. You are familiar with that idea: “Jesus Christ came on earth in order to die for your sins and clear the way for you to get into heaven if you profess faith in him.” Salvation in this view is essentially a ticket into an eternal dinner party with God.

So let’s look for a moment at what salvation is all about.

To begin, let’s look at what the word means.

Our words “salvation” and “save” come from the Latin salvus, which means “healthy, safe.” Immediately you can see that salvation refers to a variety of conditions ranging from physical, mental and spiritual well-being and health to freedom from danger. It can refer to finding someone or something that is lost, as well as rescuing someone from being discarded or killed. In Roman times, the greeting “Salve” (pronounced “sal-way”) literally meant “(Good) Health (to you).”

In the Koinê Greek original of the New Testament, the word usually translated as “save” is sôdzô and the word translated as “salvation” is sôteria. The same range of meanings found in Latin also apply to the meaning of the Greek. Sôdzô can mean everything from rescuing someone in mortal danger to pardon to cure or make healthy. The basic force is assure the well-being (whether physical, mental or spiritual) of a person, and to act positively in assuring that state of being.

In the Gospels, sôdzô (and its cognates) is used in conjunction with many of the healings performed by Jesus. For example, Matthew 14:35-36: “After the people of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the region and brought all who were sick to him, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” The word translated as “healed” is diesôthêsan, the aorist passive verb form of sôdzô, which can literally be translated as “were brought safely through,” as well as “were healed.”

The idea of Jesus as being a savior related to this idea of healing, wholeness and being brought safely through a time of danger or being rescued from death or other peril. Jesus’ name reflects this idea. In Matthew 1:21, Joseph is told to name his son “Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (ιησουν αυτος γαρ σωσει τον λαον αυτου απο των αμαρτιων αυτων). This introduces a distinctly theological tone to the whole discussion.

In past blogs, I have discussed how the word for sins, ‘amartia, derives from a verb referring to archery and missing the mark. Any person who is honest about their life will admit that more often than not, we miss the mark in our relationships with one another, we miss the mark in terms of the loving behavior that is the mark of a godly life, and we certainly miss the mark in leading truly moral and righteous lives. We all skirt the law at times in one way or another, sometimes in major ways, more often in minor ways.

Paul puts It this way, “…for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The measure is the glory of God. Last week I talked about how it is that when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say these words: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” If heaven is the model for life here on earth, we have certainly fallen short of truly manifesting its presence. Paul personally reflects on this human inability to live according to the way of heaven in Romans 7:15-25:

“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.”

The one who rescues us from this dilemma is Jesus Christ. How? By applying the healing salve of God’s love and grace to our tortured fear and guilt from failure. Whenever we attempt to do what is right and fail, or whenever we do what is wrong and then regret it and repent of doing it, there still linger about us the effects of our choices and actions. These operate at a spiritual and psychological level. Our relationships may be strained as a result of our actions, pain and hurt may punctuate our interactions with people, resentments may accumulate, even anger and hatred may be present because of violations, abuse or violence. All of these are the stings of sin, the deep wounds left behind as a result of falling short of the way of heaven. We need to be healed from these effects as much as from the effects of physical illness or injury. The inner eyes of our souls need to be opened as much as our eyes of flesh.

It is the pronouncement of Divine forgiveness and the unconditional love of God that heals these inner wounds. It is the eternal mercy and gracious forgiveness of God ceases the inner turmoil that Paul describes so eloquently. To receive the benediction of God that we are loved by God regardless of our failures, of all the times we miss the mark, we can be relieved of the burdens of shame, guilt and self-recrimination. The word of Jesus is ever positive and encouraging: “Look up! Your faith has saved you! You can do it! God is with you and for you, not against you!”

 

As Paul exclaims later in his Letter to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Indeed, who can be? If God is not against us, then surely we should not be against ourselves. By removing the effects of our sin, God leaves us on good footing to once again orient our lives towards the Way of Heaven. We stumble, we fall, we falter, but God is ever ready to lift us up, dust us off, forgive us, and restore us to the path of love. As we journey to the Heart of God, we discover, bit by bit, that the Heart of God is already journeying with us.

(Image sources:  Satan at computer from http://www.godandscience.org/images/image001.jpg;   Jesus and Mac from http://growblop.com/Jesus_mac%5B1%5D.jpg;   "Jesus Saves" from http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/3124559322_01b393486b.jpg?v=0;   The Apostle Paul by Rembrandt from http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/superpages/rembrandt/Rembrandt_TheApostlePaul.jpg;   footprints from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-kdGi6L7kcLVJvvEpY0kmfBOGYJ3czqg9G8EtYEgOvQz6IN5IAYP9zId8HYDUeJzeqVaE6ijPGb2ljM8ARw4bSngpnz6LYnVvhXFkeZW4Y_FT_y6BX31VhuSO5Z5QQGKvu8XvswCZ2K8/s400/desert.bmp;   hugging Jesus from http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RoP0RFMvPMw/S6YBzXz5h8I/AAAAAAAAAKY/sjhUQoeloXA/0812_Jesus_gives_hug_christian_clipart.jpg)