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Exploring Christianity
What does it mean to be "Saved"?
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<blockquote data-quote="ViaCrucis" data-source="post: 75835793" data-attributes="member: 293637"><p>It depends. What you are describing is more of a modern Evangelical way of talking about salvation.</p><p></p><p>In historic Christian thought salvation is a fairly large topic that encompasses many theological topics, from Christology to Eschatology.</p><p></p><p>I'll be working from within a traditional/historical perspective, but it'll also be flavored by my own Lutheran tradition (I think it's important that I be clear on that).</p><p></p><p>The Greek verb that is translated to save is <em>sozo</em>, and it means "to rescue". Salvation, as a concept, refers to the Divine rescue by God of creation; the rescue of creation from death and sin. Other words that come into play here are redemption, reconciliation, and renewal. Redemption or apolutrosis in Greek means the giving of freedom, freeing or liberating from captivity; reconciliation or atonement or katallage in Greek means restoration--the restoring of creation, the restoring of man, restoring man's communion with God, etc. Renewal, the healing, the making new again, of creation.</p><p></p><p>In Christian theology not only is man broken by sin; but all of creation labors and suffers under the hegemony of sin and also of death.</p><p></p><p>That is, the universe--all that exists--is intrinsically and inherently good. We confess faith "in one God, the Father, maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen" and all which God creates is good. But creation has become subject to sin and death; the biblical narrative which communicates this to us is the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, who tricked by the words of the serpent sell themselves into bondage through their disobedience; and through this brings the rest of creation into subjugation with them.</p><p></p><p>Man was created to be the caretaker, God's loving representatives in the world, to bear the Divine image and likeness by reflecting God's own love and light into the world; and reciprocally reflecting creation, bearing of creation back to God in worship (which is not about feeding God's "ego", but about man fulfilling his purpose as a rational agent in communion with God and in communion with the rest of creation); through the fall this became broken, distorted, wounded. Our loss of fellowship with God, and the breaking of our good communion with one another and also with the rest of creation.</p><p></p><p>God, however, never intended to abandon anything He made, and so the overarching biblical narrative is the redemptive drama unfolding in history ultimately coming into climax with Jesus Christ, God made flesh.</p><p></p><p>God the Word and only-begotten Son of the Father united Himself with our humanity; and becomes a full partaker in our humanity--from birth even to death. In His living He was righteous, even when we were not; and thus His obedience becomes the counter-measure to Adam's disobedience. Where the first man sinned and brought sin and the subjugation of death; Christ, the "second Adam" by His obedience restores righteousness to man, undoing what Adam had done. And thus, by His life, death, and resurrection <em>justifies </em>sinful man. That is, makes man just or righteous. By His death, He participates in our death, thereby giving Himself up to be swallowed up in death--that He might destroy the power of death by His rising from the dead. In this Jesus has become the "first fruits" of the resurrection; Christ has been raised from the dead, and therefore we can trust and hope that what God has done for Jesus, He will do also for us, and indeed, all of creation.</p><p></p><p>Christ and His Gospel--the good news of what God has done for the world in Jesus, for all of us--is brought forth to the world through what Christ called His "Church"; the assembled group of those who have believed in Him, and seek to live their lives out in this world as His disciples. Through the proclamation of the Gospel, and in the Sacraments which Jesus Christ instituted for His Church--such as Baptism and the Eucharist--God is active and at work to bring faith to us. Bringing faith to us, giving us faith, He works to appropriate what Christ has done to us. That, therefore, we are freely justified before God by His grace, through faith, on account of what Jesus Christ has done.</p><p></p><p>In this, therefore, the sinner is reconciled to God, God establishing His peace with us; and our disposition toward God is transformed from an estranged and hostile creature to a restored, reconciled relationship of that of a child. For through Jesus we have received adoption as children; thus even as Christ is the eternal and only-begotten Son of the Father, so have we become counted as sons and daughters of the Father. Christ's Father has become our Father. And God dwells in us, and with us, through the enduring presence of the Holy Spirit.</p><p></p><p>This work, which happened objectively and for all in Christ is now given to us personally, and through this we are brought into the life of God that is found in Jesus for us--a life that cannot be destroyed even by bodily death in this present age. More than that, however, is God's promise that death shall no longer be. Even as we live in a world that is dying, the Christian faith and hope is that this age full of madness, decay, and entropy shall reach its end--history shall come to a close. It is not the "end of the world" that we hope for, but rather that at the end of this age God shall transform, renew, and bring healing to all things.</p><p></p><p>What God did in Jesus God is doing for all creation. Life, not death, is what triumphs in the end.</p><p></p><p>Salvation, therefore, is all that God has done, is doing, and will do. Our individual salvation is part of that larger story and picture--of God's redemption, healing, and saving of all things. It happened objectively in Christ for all; it happens subjectively in us through our regeneration (i.e. new birth), whereby through faith we have been changed, made new in Jesus as grace--pure gift. And the ongoing work of God in our lives, renewing us in our faith by grace in God's word by which we hear Him forgive us, loving us, healing us; and in the very tangible elements of water, bread, and wine in the Sacraments. Through Baptism we have been born again, renewed in Christ, our sins washed away by grace, our lives changed by mercy, etc. In the Eucharist we receive Christ's very flesh and blood, so that even by our eating and drinking there is Jesus here, our salvation here in, under, and with the meager elements of bread and wine. And the Gospel is preached, that we may be renewed day by day in God's mercy. In order that we might daily walk as disciples, bringing and bearing Christ to the world.</p><p></p><p>Through giving of ourselves in our lives to our neighbors, friends, strangers, and whoever we are blessed to know--even our enemies. That we might love the world even as God loves the world; to love as Christ loves. That the healing and redemption which is for the world, that which has been done already and that which will be done on the Last Day; is breaking into here and now in our relationships with one another, with others, and indeed the rest of creation.</p><p></p><p>And ultimately, on that last day, all shall be transformed, renewed, healed, and restored; God will be all in all.</p><p></p><p>All of this is salvation. Being "saved" is about God's bringing rescue to us and to all creation. Both what has already been done, what is being down even now, and what will be done finally in the end.</p><p></p><p>We have been saved.</p><p>We are being saved.</p><p>We will be saved.</p><p></p><p>-CryptoLutheran</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ViaCrucis, post: 75835793, member: 293637"] It depends. What you are describing is more of a modern Evangelical way of talking about salvation. In historic Christian thought salvation is a fairly large topic that encompasses many theological topics, from Christology to Eschatology. I'll be working from within a traditional/historical perspective, but it'll also be flavored by my own Lutheran tradition (I think it's important that I be clear on that). The Greek verb that is translated to save is [I]sozo[/I], and it means "to rescue". Salvation, as a concept, refers to the Divine rescue by God of creation; the rescue of creation from death and sin. Other words that come into play here are redemption, reconciliation, and renewal. Redemption or apolutrosis in Greek means the giving of freedom, freeing or liberating from captivity; reconciliation or atonement or katallage in Greek means restoration--the restoring of creation, the restoring of man, restoring man's communion with God, etc. Renewal, the healing, the making new again, of creation. In Christian theology not only is man broken by sin; but all of creation labors and suffers under the hegemony of sin and also of death. That is, the universe--all that exists--is intrinsically and inherently good. We confess faith "in one God, the Father, maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen" and all which God creates is good. But creation has become subject to sin and death; the biblical narrative which communicates this to us is the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, who tricked by the words of the serpent sell themselves into bondage through their disobedience; and through this brings the rest of creation into subjugation with them. Man was created to be the caretaker, God's loving representatives in the world, to bear the Divine image and likeness by reflecting God's own love and light into the world; and reciprocally reflecting creation, bearing of creation back to God in worship (which is not about feeding God's "ego", but about man fulfilling his purpose as a rational agent in communion with God and in communion with the rest of creation); through the fall this became broken, distorted, wounded. Our loss of fellowship with God, and the breaking of our good communion with one another and also with the rest of creation. God, however, never intended to abandon anything He made, and so the overarching biblical narrative is the redemptive drama unfolding in history ultimately coming into climax with Jesus Christ, God made flesh. God the Word and only-begotten Son of the Father united Himself with our humanity; and becomes a full partaker in our humanity--from birth even to death. In His living He was righteous, even when we were not; and thus His obedience becomes the counter-measure to Adam's disobedience. Where the first man sinned and brought sin and the subjugation of death; Christ, the "second Adam" by His obedience restores righteousness to man, undoing what Adam had done. And thus, by His life, death, and resurrection [I]justifies [/I]sinful man. That is, makes man just or righteous. By His death, He participates in our death, thereby giving Himself up to be swallowed up in death--that He might destroy the power of death by His rising from the dead. In this Jesus has become the "first fruits" of the resurrection; Christ has been raised from the dead, and therefore we can trust and hope that what God has done for Jesus, He will do also for us, and indeed, all of creation. Christ and His Gospel--the good news of what God has done for the world in Jesus, for all of us--is brought forth to the world through what Christ called His "Church"; the assembled group of those who have believed in Him, and seek to live their lives out in this world as His disciples. Through the proclamation of the Gospel, and in the Sacraments which Jesus Christ instituted for His Church--such as Baptism and the Eucharist--God is active and at work to bring faith to us. Bringing faith to us, giving us faith, He works to appropriate what Christ has done to us. That, therefore, we are freely justified before God by His grace, through faith, on account of what Jesus Christ has done. In this, therefore, the sinner is reconciled to God, God establishing His peace with us; and our disposition toward God is transformed from an estranged and hostile creature to a restored, reconciled relationship of that of a child. For through Jesus we have received adoption as children; thus even as Christ is the eternal and only-begotten Son of the Father, so have we become counted as sons and daughters of the Father. Christ's Father has become our Father. And God dwells in us, and with us, through the enduring presence of the Holy Spirit. This work, which happened objectively and for all in Christ is now given to us personally, and through this we are brought into the life of God that is found in Jesus for us--a life that cannot be destroyed even by bodily death in this present age. More than that, however, is God's promise that death shall no longer be. Even as we live in a world that is dying, the Christian faith and hope is that this age full of madness, decay, and entropy shall reach its end--history shall come to a close. It is not the "end of the world" that we hope for, but rather that at the end of this age God shall transform, renew, and bring healing to all things. What God did in Jesus God is doing for all creation. Life, not death, is what triumphs in the end. Salvation, therefore, is all that God has done, is doing, and will do. Our individual salvation is part of that larger story and picture--of God's redemption, healing, and saving of all things. It happened objectively in Christ for all; it happens subjectively in us through our regeneration (i.e. new birth), whereby through faith we have been changed, made new in Jesus as grace--pure gift. And the ongoing work of God in our lives, renewing us in our faith by grace in God's word by which we hear Him forgive us, loving us, healing us; and in the very tangible elements of water, bread, and wine in the Sacraments. Through Baptism we have been born again, renewed in Christ, our sins washed away by grace, our lives changed by mercy, etc. In the Eucharist we receive Christ's very flesh and blood, so that even by our eating and drinking there is Jesus here, our salvation here in, under, and with the meager elements of bread and wine. And the Gospel is preached, that we may be renewed day by day in God's mercy. In order that we might daily walk as disciples, bringing and bearing Christ to the world. Through giving of ourselves in our lives to our neighbors, friends, strangers, and whoever we are blessed to know--even our enemies. That we might love the world even as God loves the world; to love as Christ loves. That the healing and redemption which is for the world, that which has been done already and that which will be done on the Last Day; is breaking into here and now in our relationships with one another, with others, and indeed the rest of creation. And ultimately, on that last day, all shall be transformed, renewed, healed, and restored; God will be all in all. All of this is salvation. Being "saved" is about God's bringing rescue to us and to all creation. Both what has already been done, what is being down even now, and what will be done finally in the end. We have been saved. We are being saved. We will be saved. -CryptoLutheran [/QUOTE]
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