A further evidence of the growing individualism is to be found in the definite abandonment, in certain quarters, of the hope of national restoration which liad formed so prominent a feature of the prophetic anticipation. This appears most clearly in such late books as Apoc. Baruch and 2 Esdras." In the earlier literature the national ideal still survives, and in many passages [e.g. Ps-Sol 17) finds beautiful expression. Even the hope of Gentile participation in the promised -salvation is not without its representation (e.g. Enoch 10-'' ilO*", Ps-Sol 17^="**). It could not be otherwise with a people whose daUy study had been the prophetic literature. But as time goes on and the kingdom does not come, we find men more and more losing sight of the larger aspects of tlie Divine salvation, and concentrating their thoughts upon the fate of individuals. Tlie present world is abandoned to hopeless corruption (cf. Apoc. Bar 15'* 21""), ami the world to come belongs to the righteous, and to them alone (cf. Apoc. I?ar 15* 24'- '-', and esp. 2 Es 7*'-"'). When the seer laments the sorrows of the wicked, and the small number of those who shall finally be saved, he is bidden to look away from them, and to consider the righteous, for whom alone God cares. ' For I will rejoice over the few that shall be saved, inasmuch as these are they that have made my glory now to prevail, and of whom my name is named. And 1 will not grieve over the multitude of them that perish ; for the.se are they which are now like unto vapour and are become as flame and smoke ; they are set on fire and burn hotly and are quenched' (2 Es 7"". «i Charles' tr. in Esrhntology , p. 292). Here we have the individual- istic theodicy in its most extreme form.
No doubt this growing individualism had its good side. Within the OT itself we have already seen how it deepened the moral insight, and heightened the sense of personal responsibility. We find ill the period in question the same stress
* It seems probable that both o( these books in their present form are of composite authorship, the earlier portions, written before the destruction of Jerusalem, retaining the national Messianic hope, the Iat«r having definitely abandoned it. For the evidence in detaU s«e Charles' edition of BariLch, and his Enchatoiogi/t p. '283 ff.
on individual righteousness. But, on the othei hand, we note also the tendency to conceive the wlH>le matter of salvation in a more or les8 external and legal way. Salvation is the reward which God has promised to those who faithfully keep His law. "The more difficult the achievement the greater God's delight in the result. This is specially apparent in the later books (cf. Apoc. Bar 51' ' But those who have been saved by their works and to whom the law has been now a hope, and understanding an expectation, and wisdom a confidence, to them wonders will appear in their time'; 14', with Charles' note; 2Es 9'-' ' Ar.d every one that shall be saved, and that shall be able to escape by his works and by faith whereby ye have believed, shall be preserved from the said perils, and shall see my salvation in my land and within my borders : for I have sanctified them for me from the beginning ' ; cf. 7" 8^). Here we find ourselves in that very atmosphere of work- righteousness which culminates in the Talmud, and against which the Gospel came as a protest.
Summing up the conceptions of salvation which we have met thus far, we find that they are four : (1) salvation in this life, in the sense of deliver- ance from present danger or trouble, especially from defeat in battle ; (2) the salvation of the Messianic Kingdom, to be enjoyed by all the righteous who may be alive at the time, as well as by the risen saints ; (3) salvation after death, in the sense of a preliminary foretaste, by the right- eous, of the enjoyment of the age to come ; (4) the final salvation of the heavenly world, when the present earth has been destroyed, and the period of corruption has come to an end. These different conceptions live on side by side, modifying one another in various ways, shading oil' into one another by almost imperceptible degrees, the old not disjjlaced by the new, but transformed by it, and that in such subtle and gradual ways that it is often impossible to trace the separate steps of the process. Into such a world of thought, con- fused, changeful, yet rich with germs of fruitful and inspiring life, Jesus came with His Gospel of salvation.
3. In the teaching of Jesus. — The word ' salva- tion ' ((TioTTipia) is only twice used by Jesus — once in the conversation with Zacchajus (Lk 19' ' To-day is salvation come to this house'), and again in the interview with the woman of Samaria (Jn 4^= " Sal- vation is from the Jews'). But the verb aih^eiv occurs frequently in His teaching. Often it is used to denote physical healing (e.g. Mt 9--', Mk S'' 5" 10», Lk e^S-'^'" 17" W). Elsewhere it has a broader meaning. Not to mention the well-known passages in John (5" 10' 12^'), He spoke of Himself as come 'to seek and to .save that which was lost' (Lk 19'», cf. Mt 18", Lk 9«, both omitted by KV). Of the sinful woman who washed His feet in Simon's house He declared that her faith had saved her (Lk 7°°), and in more than one passage concerning the future of His Kingdom He uses the word aw^u in the same eschatolo"ical sense with which we are already familiar (>It 10'-'^ 24"- *=, cf. Mk 13"- ="). Salvation is indeed only the reverse side of that Gospel of the Kingdom which was the burden of His preaching. The two ideas may be used interchangeably, as ajjiiears from such pas- sages as Mt 19=*- =», iVik 10'-»- -'*, Lk 8'" " 13^- =». If, then, we would understand Jesus' view of salva- tion, we must take our departure from His idea of the Kingdom.