A Brief Look at the Christian Doctrine of Salvation
The biblical concept of salvation has undergone a notable evolution, transitioning from an initial understanding centered on physical deliverance in the present life to a more nuanced concept encompassing spiritual rescue, often with implications for the afterlife. This development reflects a change in perspectives regarding life after death. Initially, salvation was understood in terms of tangible rescue from immediate dangers or crises. However, as beliefs about the afterlife became more optimistic, the understanding of salvation broadened to include hopes for divine deliverance and even resurrection in a future world, encompassing aspects like forgiveness of sins and the attainment of eternal life. This shift indicates an expansion of the concept of salvation beyond earthly concerns to include eschatological hopes (Morrison, 2016). However, this must not be taken as the ancients having no understanding of divine and spiritual salvation. It is more proper to state that under the umbrella of the vast physical views of salvation lay a constant (and consistent) yearning for a spiritual salvation brought by God to his people.
Morrison (2016) also gives us some other definitions: In the Bible, salvation usually comes from God, Jesus, or an agent of God. Terms for salvation include:
יָשַׁע (yasha') and יְשׁוּעָה (yeshu'ah)—Hebrew words most often translated as “save” and “salvation”;
נָצַל (natsal)—also Hebrew, usually translated as “rescue”; and
σῴζω (sōzō) and σωτηρία (sōtēria)—Greek words meaning “save” and “salvation.”
Morrison goes on to outline that Israel’s salvation was associated with a variety of ideas:
a messianic leader or a figure like the Servant of the Lord;
restoration of the Davidic monarchy;
reunification of Israel and Judah;
a second exodus—a return to the land;
an age of international power, peace, and agricultural blessings;
knowledge of God spreading to all other nations;
apocalyptic changes in heaven and on earth, in animals and humans;
forgiveness and a new covenant, in which God dwells with the people.
Hamilton (2010) rightly claims that interpreting the biblical narrative and its sections of books in light of their inherent literary features and structures as we have them in the canon reveals a coherent and cogent view of Salvation. He states, “In broadest terms, the Bible can be summarized in four words: creation, fall, redemption, [and] restoration. This sequence functions as an umbrella story encompassing the whole canonical narrative, but it is also repeated countless times on both individual and corporate levels. The whole cosmos is created, is judged when man rebels, is redeemed through Christ’s death on the cross, and will be restored when Christ returns, but this also happens to the nation of Israel and to particular individuals (Hamilton, 2010, pp 57-58).
He does admit that one “significant variation on this theme takes shape as Yahweh brings Israel out of Egypt [physical salvation], makes a covenant with them, and gives them the Promised Land, where they sin, they are exiled, and the Old Testament prophets point to a return from exile that will be a new exodus [the spiritual and final fulfillment of the physical foreshadow]” (Hamilton, 2010 p 58).
The narrative of salvation history posits that God's glory is revealed through salvation accomplished by judgment (Hamilton 2010, pp. 58-59). This perspective highlights that believers in Jesus have been saved through the judgment, exile, and subsequent restoration achieved in his death and resurrection. Consequently, the current experience of believers is likened to a sojourn through a wilderness en route to a promised city where the Lamb will be the light.
Drawing on the creation account, this narrative suggests that Yahweh established a "cosmic theater" for his glory, with a garden-temple as the stage. Within this temple, God placed humanity as his image-bearers (Hamilton, 2010, p. 58). The intended role of this divine image, humankind, was to expand the boundaries of the garden-temple by exercising dominion over the earth (Hamilton, 2010, p. 58). This commission to Adam and Eve involved ruling and subduing the earth, echoing the expectation that God's glory would eventually fill the entire world (Hamilton, 2010, p. 58, citing Num. 14:21; Hab. 2:14).
This theological framework presents a specific understanding of salvation history that integrates the theme of creation and humanity's intended role within God's cosmic plan as foundational to this understanding of salvation history (Hamilton, 2010, p. 58).
Thus, we can conclude that despite the evolution of the human understanding of salvation, “God never abandoned the purpose of causing his glory to cover the land as the waters cover the sea,” and thus acts in history to bring about the spiritual salvation of his people, even when he is using secondary (physical) means to foreshadow his ultimate goal of spiritual restoration.
Finally, as Köstenberger (2010) when dsicusing the mission of the Church (i.e., making the Gospel know to the ends of the earth) states, “between Eden and the eternal state, between Abraham and Armageddon, between Babel and the beast’s confinement to the lake of fire, few biblical topics are as important as the mission [of salvation, which is] … is inextricably linked to human sinfulness and need for redemption and God’s provision of salvation in the person and work of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. This ‘good news’ of salvation in Jesus; however, must be made known. Thus, mission is the ingredient that both precedes Christian existence and constitutes a major motivation for Christian living: the saving mission of Jesus forms the foundation for Christian mission, and the gospel is the message of this mission, a mission that is not optional but mandatory.” We can conclude from this (again) that God’s acts in history culminate in the spiritual salvation of his people.
Köstenberger (2010), aptly surmises, “For Scripture is united by one primary pervading purpose: the tracing of God’s unfolding plan of redemption; it (everywhere) assumes that this God acts coherently and purposefully in history.”
Works cited and consulted:
Hamilton Jr., J. M. (2010). God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology. Crossway.
Morrison, M. D. (2016). Salvation. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Smith, W. A. Wright, & K. Ritzema (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.
Köstenberger, A. J. (2010). Salvation to the ends of the earth: A biblical theology of mission (New Studies in Biblical Theology, No. 53). InterVarsity Press.