Salvation Part 1: What Does It Mean to be "Saved"?
In this short series, we will walk through a high-level history of this term, its usage in the Bible and Rabbinic tradition, and its appearance in Jewish mysticism. We will also seek to understand parallels and divergences between Jewish and Christian traditions.
It is time to talk about your salvation.
While I say that somewhat in jest, "salvation" is a topic I have avoided for a while. It is a serious topic that has a unique way of dividing a room.
However, recently, it has become a frequent flyer in conversation, and the time is right to explore this idea.
In this short series, we will walk through a high-level history of this term, its usage in the Bible and Rabbinic tradition, and its appearance in Jewish mysticism. We will also seek to understand parallels and divergences between Jewish and Christian traditions.
Similar to other concepts we've explored, we will find the missing key to understanding is Pardes - Jewish hermeneutics¹ - the lack of which may explain the great divergence between Christian and Jewish thought on salvation.
The Roots of Replacement Theology
Before we unpack the term, we'll look at how the popular understanding of salvation has become entangled with Replacement Theology over time.
Beginning in the early second century, a growing movement away from the Jewish roots of the faith paved the way for the emergence of Christianity as a new religion.
After the various exiles and dispersions of the Jewish people, many Gentile nations likely assumed that G_D had divorced the people of His covenant².
Developing Christianity began to view the prophetic passages of Israel's future redemption as allegoric and spiritual. Without emphasizing the literal aspect, the future redemption became disassociated from the Jewish people.
From here, it was a small leap for the church to view itself as the new Israel.
No longer connected to the roots of the Jewish tradition, the late emerging Christian tradition would champion the false dichotomy that contrasted salvation & grace against Torah obedience.
Under this appropriation of salvation, a Christian is "saved" by faith and achieves access to eternal life, through grace³ - not works. Nevertheless, it follows that non-Christians are, by default, on an unfortunate path to eternal punishment⁴.
This equation misunderstands the utility of Torah obedience and its intended purpose.
A New Reality
Early into this journey, Christianity began to question if Jews were, or could be - saved - if they did not accept Jesus as their Messiah. For quite a while, the consensus has been a resounding no.
Among the many problems with this idea is that it suggests that G_D could abandon His promises - the covenant(s) that He sealed with the forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Today, with the re-emergence of the nation of Israel and Jerusalem, G_D's protection of the Jewish people, and the phenomena of Messianic Judaism, these traditions are facing frequent confrontations with new realities and new questions.
Salvation In The Bible
The Hebrew word for "salvation" (yeshuah - יְשׁוּעָה) is expanded from the root yesha (יֶשַׁע), which means deliverance, rescue, or safety.
Salvation is a ubiquitous word in the Hebrew Bible and the Rabbinic writings.
One can be saved from a negative or life-threatening experience, military threats (Habakuk 3:8; Psalm 26:2; 1 Samuel 2:1), or find protection against any form of trouble, as we often see in the Psalms.
One may also be 'saved' from illness, or given a long life (Psalm 91:16) - connoting the idea of healing, restoration, and wholeness with salvation.
It is worth noting, that the New Testament uses the full range of these ideas in alignment with the Rabbinic tradition.
Salvation from Exile
While the Bible ascribes many everyday uses for this word - through the hermeneutics principles of Remez and Sod - we can also discern hints toward a future eschatological fulfillment, as well.
One big difference I have observed is this: almost universally, Judaism recognizes that the Jewish people, and subsequently, the whole world, are in a state of exile. As a result, prayers for redemption and salvation have been a part of the daily prayers since the first century and beyond.
Though this is changing, it seems to me that Christian tradition has not broadly held the same exilic perspective, not universally.
Another observation is that the various Christian traditions I have interacted with thus tend to hold a more personal concept of "salvation." That is to say, less collective and nationalistic.
It is my opinion that this likely contributed to the evolution of this idea into more spiritual terms. In this, salvation has shifted to focus on the afterlife and what happens to the soul when one leaves this existence.
Interestingly, the spiritual language in the New Testament echoes concepts found in the Jewish mystical tradition.
Salvation Archetypes
With all this, there are (2) ways we might organize eschatological salvation in the Jewish tradition: 1) the collective redemption of the Jewish people and the nations, and 2) the esoteric ideas of the soul's journey after life.
Collective Redemption
The Torah predicts that the people of Israel would at times disobey and subsequently endure punishment. These prophecies always reaffirm that G_D will relent and gather His people from the nations, and re-establish them in the land promised to their forebears.
The Jewish tradition of salvation includes a literal fulfillment - the collective, national redemption. Included in this is the judgment of the nations for their disobedience of G_D's laws and their subsequent treatment of the Jewish people.
The archetype for this can be found in Exodus⁵ when G_D punished the Egyptians after a year-long show of wonders and signs.
As a result of its magnitude, the salvation from Egypt has long served in the Rabbinic writings as a prototype for Messianic salvation. The New Testament also includes many Midrashic hints at these ideas throughout its pages.
The Kingdom
It seems to me, that the Apostles were primarily concerned with the collective redemption, that is the redemption of the Jewish people, and the inauguration of the Kingdom of G_D.
In fact, "Repent, for the Kingdom is at hand," signifies the core of the Gospel message. (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; Mark 1:15)
Even after the resurrection, Jesus was asked:
“Master, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” - Acts 1:6
So palpable was the need for salvation in the first century, that the name Yeshua, (translated as "He will save") was quite common.
For the Apostles, initially, the primary focus was the restoration of Israel and the overthrow of the Roman occupation. The Gentiles turning from idolatry was not yet in their minds.
Paul's letters marked a shift where - Gentile salvation, from idolatry – became a primary focus. However, this was still couched within the broader expectation of Israel's collective redemption, as he clarifies in Romans 11⁶.
Gentile Salvation
The Gentiles in the Apostolic communities were making a radical shift from the dead-end road of paganism in which they lived. The catalyst of this revelation seemed to have been their newfound connection to Jesus.
In this, Jesus served as a kind of Rebbe to the nations, enabling them to be mystically grafted into the tree of Israel's redemption.
In short, they were saved from the spiritual disconnect from G_D, and given access to the Wisdom of the Torah. But, this was just the beginning. The incoming Gentiles were notified of their responsibility⁷ to maintain and protect this gift of spiritual awakening.
And though this was a life-changing awakening for them, the Messianic Kingdom had not arrived as many had believed it would. For the final redemption to be fully realized, much more of the pagan world would have to arrive at this conclusion, which did not occur in the first century.
So, what's next? With the stalled arrival of the Kingdom, what does it mean to be saved? How does one 'work out their salvation'?
In the next part, we will delve deeper into the concept of salvation and how the mystical traditions of Heaven and Hell factor into the New Testament writings on the soul's journey after death in the Kabbalistic tradition.
Notes:
¹ PaRDeS - Jewish Hermeneutics
³ Under Grace, Under the Law, and Under Sin
⁵ "Thus The LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea." - Exodus 14:30
⁶ Misunderstanding Paul's Message in Romans 11
⁷ The Roots of Gentile Inclusion: Noahide Laws and the Jerusalem Council
