SALVATION

South Asia is deeply religious and is home to many religions and cultures. Followers of all of them – animists, idolaters, Hindu and Buddhist philosophers, Christians and fundamentalist Muslims alike – share a deep respect for the supernatural and a longing for the miraculous or mysterious. We long for meaning in life and for life after death. These longings are answered variously in terms of God, ultimate reality, the life force and so on.

These different religions also define salvation in different ways. It is often understood as achieving freedom from the cycle of reincarnation by merging into the divine, or as achieving an eternal relationship with ultimate reality through knowledge or good works or undivided devotion. The Bible presents a different view of salvation, one that focuses on God’s reaching out to us to restore our broken relationship with him. Restoring this relationship will also help to restore human relationships and bring peace to human communities.

In the OT salvation is used mostly to refer to being saved in specific historical situations. People cried out for salvation when they or the nation were in great danger from their enemies or had suffered some disaster. They were unable to help themselves and needed a deliverer or saviour who would free them from their distress.

Salvation was thus understood as a movement from distress to deliverance. This idea of salvation is also expressed using verbs like “deliver”, “redeem” and “ransom”. These latter two terms should not be misinterpreted as meaning that our salvation involves any bartering with God or with other forces. When the Bible speaks of our being redeemed (or ransomed) it is merely saying that our salvation was not accomplished without great cost. God took the initiative to deliver people from bondage and did so at a cost to himself.

In the OT God is the saviour (Deut 33:29). He may choose to use human beings like Gideon (Judg 6:13-16) as his agents, but he is the true source of any deliverance the believer experiences (Pss 33:16; 44:6-8). Since salvation flows from God, the believer can wait in hope and look with confidence to the Lord (Pss 7:10; 33:20-21; Is. 30:15; 45:22). He reaches down to bring salvation to those who turn to him in trust and rely on him alone.

The idea of physical salvation is still found in the NT. For example, Acts speaks of being saved from drowning (Acts 27:20, 31) and Jesus may have both physical survival and eternal life in mind when he speaks about being saved from the great danger and suffering that will occur during the future tribulation (Matt 24:13, 22). In describing Jesus’ miracles of healing, the writers sometimes use the same Greek word usually translated “salvation” to mean restoration to health and wholeness (Matt 9:21-22; Mark 5:23; 6:56; Luke 7:50; 8:36, 48, 50).

However, the NT introduces a new concept of salvation that is largely absent in the OT when it speaks of being saved from the effects of sin and from evil spiritual powers. In fact, the majority of NT uses of the word “saved” refer to God’s action in and through Jesus Christ to deliver humanity from the power of sin, death and Satan. These evils drain earthly life of its joy and threaten each person with permanent separation from God.

The NT uses three different tenses when speaking of our salvation. First, historically, we have been saved. Jesus died for us on the cross and did all that was necessary for our salvation. All that we have to do is by faith accept what he has done for us. Secondly, we are being saved in the present through Jesus’ life (Acts 15:11; 1 Cor 1:18), which releases us from slavery to sin and enables us to serve God in righteousness. Finally, in the future we will be saved from the very presence of sin. The charges against repentant sinners have already been nailed to the cross and Jesus has won the victory over sin and death (Col 2:13-15). The full manifestation of this victory, however, will be seen in the resurrection of all at the end of time. The certainty of the future completeness of salvation and the total removal of sin is beautifully expressed in Romans 8:18-39 and 1 Corinthians 15:12-58.

Salvation from sin and all the powers of darkness is accomplished by God through Jesus Christ. God has taken the initiative to bring us back into a relationship with him by dealing with the problem of our sin and disobedience. The Bible is clear that God is the one who saves, and that the only human response required is to accept this gracious gift of salvation by faith or in trust. There is nothing else we can do that will ever restore us to a relationship with God or deliver us from our predicament. Only God, on the basis of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, can save us. We can confidently accept God’s gift of salvation to find meaning in life and live the full life that Jesus gives us.

Ashish Chrispal