Salvage and Salvation
In Hebrew the name Joshua and the name Jesus are the same, Yeshua. The word means savior, or salvation. In the hardships of the ancient days, people were in constant and severe need of deliverance. There were so many threats, including starvation, famine, war, plague, and hostile invading armies at the door. Salvation was a real and constant need. In this context, salvation took the form of deliverance from an immediate threat. In Jewish history, from the times of the prophets, on down into Roman times, discussions about salvation came to focus more on life after death, as the invaders were too strong and too well organized for effective resistance. This brought about discussions about the resurrection of the dead. Such conversations were essential to motivate and inspire people to give their lives in defense of their homes and traditions.
In the later years of New Testament formation, these ideas came to be shaped into a doctrine that faith in Jesus would bring deliverance in the form of life after death. Keep in mind that, after the Jewish War ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the suicide of the last Jewish hold-outs at Masada, the early Christians rapidly came to be violently persecuted by the Roman Empire. Thus, a life-after-death salvation narrative came to be essential for early Christian believers.
In later years, as in the fourth century time of Constantine, preaching of this doctrine came to be a big part of the formation of a Church. This Orthodox Church would soon claim the full magisterium of empire. If you wanted life after death, you had to follow the rules laid down by the church, or else.
Later, after the Reformation, church leaders would continue to proclaim a highly conditional doctrine of salvation exclusively by faith in Christ. A great example of this sort of proclamation is the famous sermon given by Jonathan Edwards in 1741 entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This sermon is available today in a number of places online. In many ways it represents the high water mark of hellfire and brimstone.
In response to this message and the theology that supports it, I would ask If God is almighty all-knowing, and all-present, how can God be angry about anything? We usually only get angry over things we can not change. Therefore, I believe that we are really the ones who experience anger, and we have historically projected our anger upon God. We get angry over all sorts of problems we wish we could solve but can’t.
On this basis I have chosen to move away from an angry God, and away from judgmental, hellfire and brimstone theology. I have chosen to move toward ideas that are more open to human reality as we experience it today. Therefore, my theology of salvation is much more along the lines of Matthew 25:31 and following. I believe there is indeed a place of place of outer darkness and gnashing of teeth, but people reach that place in life whenever they submit to the power of human anger, judgement, and condemnation. I also believe the gates of hell are wide open. Cerberus, the hound of hell from Greek mythology is asleep, so we can walk right out of that space. It is really up to us to decide to make love our priority and to help one another over the rough patches of life. In my experience, salvation is all about improving the conditions of another person’s life.
Blessings & Peace
Pastor Steve
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