SALVATION, SAYIOUK
SALVATIOX, SAVIOUR
365
This is the explanation of the universalism of Jesus. A Gospel for the sinful knows no race limitations. A Messiah who felt Himself specially Bent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt 15**), Jew though Ue might be, could not turn away from bumble penitence, wherever found. The Samaritan (Jn 4% Lk 17" ; cf. 10»), the Syro- phaeniciau (Mk 7^"), even the Roman (Mt 8'"), shared His blessing and Ills praise. The teaching of the Fourth Gospel concerning the other sheep not of the Jewish fold (10'''), and the hour when men shall no longer worship the Father either in Jerusalem or on Mt. Gerizim (4-'), is the legitimate outcome of the principles on which Jesus regularly acted. The Messiah of the Jews showed Himself to be in very truth the Saviour of the worUl.
There is still another point in which the teaching of Jesus dili'ers radically from 'hat of His contem- poraries : this is in the emphasis He lays on the principle of service. Here the individualism of which we have spoken receives its needed com- plement. Men are saved one by one, each for himself ; but they are saved that they may serve. As members of the Kingdom, it is their duty and their privilege to minister to one another's needs. Freely forgiven by the heavenly Father, they also are to forgive one another (^lt IS'-''^). He that would be greatest in the Kingdom of Christ must show himself servant of all (Lk 22^, cf. Jn IS"). He that would save his life must be willing to lose it (Mt 10», Mk 8^, Lk 9**; cf. 17^). We unduly limit tliis sentence if we understand it simply of the conditions of entrance to the Kingdom. It expresses the law of the Kingdom all the way through, the law, namely, of self-realization through self-sacridce.
In th is con ne.\ ion we find our Lord re viving another forgotten OT truth. When the great propiiet of the Exile first proclaimed the doctrine of .salvation through the vicarious sacrifice of the good, he found few hearers (cf. Is 53' 'Who hath believed our report?'), "rhe connexion of salvation with pro- sperity had been too long and too close to make tlie new teaching intelligible. In the succeeding centuries it fell altogether into the background. Our Lord reasserts it, and applies it to Himself. He compares Himself to the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (Jn 10"). He de- clares that He is come to give His life a ransom for nmny (Mk 10"). He compares His death to a covenant sacrifice, sealin" the new relationship between His disciples and God (Mt 2G^). The crucifixion and rejection which seemed to His disciples to mark the failure of His mission had no such meaning to Him. They were but a necessary stej) in HLs redeeming work. The re- proachful word of His enemies had a deeper meaning than they knew. He saved others ; Himself He could not save (Mt 27", Lk 23", Mk 15*"). And the principles which He applies to Himself He extends also to His disciides. Look- ing forward to their approaching persecutions. He bids them not be dismayed, since if they would enter into His glory they must drink lli.i cup (Mt 2(P, cf. 5'°-'=). Thus suflering and death, which in earlier times had seemed the direct opposite of •alvation, are shown by our Lord to have a neces- sary i)art to play in bringing it about.
Summing up our Lord's teaching concerning sal- vation, we may say that it is deliverance from sin through entrance upon a new Divine life. The marks of this life are humility, brotherly service, and filial dependence upon God. In the practice of these traits consists the righteousness of the Kingdom, and in their experience its blessedness. 1 his new Divine life, which is mediated not merely by the teaching and example of Christ but by His ■uiTerings and death, begins here, continues un-
broken in the life after death, and will be finallj consummated at the Parousia, when the principlua of Christ shall be everywhere accepted, and the will of God be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.
4. In the New Testament. — The salvation brought by Jesus is the theme of the entire apostolic age. Wlierever we turn in the NT, whether it be Acts, Hebrews, St. I'aul or St. John, we are conscious of a note of confidence and triumph, as of men possessing a supreme good, in which they not only themselves rejoice, but which they are anxious to share with others. Jlore significant than any change in doctrine is this consciousness of salva- tion as a glorious fact, dominating and transform- ing life. None the less is it true that on this common ba^sis we note differences of conception. Not all the disciples grasped the teaching of Jesus with equal clearness. In not a few parts of the NT we find survivals of earlier Jewish ideas and sympathies (e.g. Ac 1", Rev 7^"' etc.). So the de- gree of theological development varies greatly (cf. the speeches in Acts with Romans). Under the circumstances there is need of discrimination. We shall begin our treatment with a brief survey of the common features of the apostolic teaching, and then pass on to describe the more distinctly theo- logical views of St. Paul and St. .John.