(a) In general. — The central theme of the apos- tolic preaching is the proclamation of Jesus as Saviour. Cf. Ac 5^- '' ' The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, w hom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. Him did God exalt to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remis- sion of sins' (cf. Mt P', Jn 3", Ac 2-' 4'- 13-^ 15", Eph [5^, Ph 3-", 2 Ti l'». Tit 1* 2'» 3«, 2 P !'• " 2-" 3-'- '^ 1 Jn 4'^ He 2'° Jesus as author of salvation). 'Salvation' hiis become a technical term which sums up all the blessings brought by the Gospel (cf. Eph 1'* ' the Gospel of your salvation ' ; 1 Co 15'" ' ' the Gospel ... by which ye are saved ' ; Ac IS'" ' the word of this salvation ' ; cf. v." 16" ' the way of salvation ' ; 28^, Ro 1" ' the power of God unto salvation' ; 10'° 'confession unto salva- tion'; 11", 2 Co 7'° 're|icntance unto salvation'; 2 Ti 3" 'able to make wise unto salvation ' ; He 6" 'things that accompany salvation'; Jude ' 'our common salvation ' ; Tit 2" ' the grace of God, bringing salvation'; cf. 1 Ti 2'-* ' Gcd . . . who would have all men to be saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth '). In contrast to all pre- vious deliverances of God (He 1'-), the fuUilnunt of that for which the OT propliets lookrd ( 1 P l'"'-'), the earnest of the age which is even now at the door (Ac 2"'- " the pouring out of the Spirit as ful- filment of the prophecy of Joel), is the great de- liverance which God has wrought through His Son. Jesus is not only Saviour ; He is the only Saviour. The stone which the builders set at nought has been made head of the corner (Ac 4"). ' And in none other is there salvation ; for neither is there an}' other name under heaven that is given among men, wherein we must be saved ' (Ac 4"').
In strict conformity with the teaching of Jesus, salvation is represented primarily as deliverance from sin. Our Lord is called Jcsu-i because He 'shall save his people from their sins' (Mt 1-'). He ' came into the world to save sinners' (I Ti 1"). The blessings of His kin^'dom are repentance (Ac 5" 11'*, cf. 20-') and remission of sins (Ac '2^*, cf. 3'» 5" 10<» W 2U'«, and esp. 3^ ' Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away ever}' one of you from your iniquities'). So the Apocalypse begins with a song of praise 'unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins liy his blood' (1°). As death is the consequence and penalty of sin, sal- vation is at the same time deliverance from death
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SALVATION, SAVIOUR
SALVATION, SAVIOUR
(He 5^ cf. 2", Ja 5™, cf. 4" ' he who is able to save and to destroy ' ; 2 Ti !■* ' our Saviour Jesus Christ, who abolished death, and brought life and incor- ruption to light through the Gospel'), and from the wrath of God, of which death is the Judicial consequence (cf. Ilo 5' with 1'-). More particularly with reference to the individual, in contrast to the cosmic salvation taught by St. Paul (Ko 8"'), it is called salvation of the soul (1 P P- '", Ja 1-', He 10'^). In its wider relations it is a salvation of the world (Jn 3'", 1 Jn 4").
Common also to the entire NT is the stress laid upon tlie sufferings and death of Christ as mediat- ing salvation. The cross which had been such a staggerin" blow to the disciples' faith at the first (Lk 24™- ^'), and which still remained a stumbling- block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks (1 Co 1'^), is now seen to have a necessary part to play in Christ's saving work (He 2'"'- 5" * 12% 1 Co V\
1 P !"• '», Rev 1», Ac 223 OQ^*, Lk 24=«), and is inter- preted in till! light of Is 53 (Ac 8=-, 1 P 2-'-=«. Cf. also the title 'lamb' in Rev 5»- » ?'■ '") as the ful- filment of prophecy (Lk 24=', Ac 3'», 1 Co 15'). As a result of this new Wew of Christ's death, we find the NT ^^Titers without exception rising to a new conception of the meaning of suttering (Ac 5^' 9",
2 Co 1», Ph l'"- ^, He 5" 13'^, 1 P 1', Ja 1-, Rev 7"), and applying to their own experiences of sorrow and temptation a standard which they have learned from Jesus Christ (1 P 2", He 13'^ 2"Co 1" i*"" ; cf. 1 Co 4'"-", Col l**).
If we compare the NT teaching ag a whole with that of Jesus, we note a (greater stress upon the eschatoloyical element. This is true not only of the Apocalj-pse and of the early discourses in the ActJi, where the Farousia is the centre of interest {cf. Ac 320. 21)^ but also of such writings as James (cf. 6** with 112), Hebrews, and 1 Peter, as well as the Epistles of St. Paul (cf. esp. Tliess. and 1 Co 15). In Hebrews the word ' salvation ' is used in a purely eschatological sense {e.g. He 928 'Christ, having been once offered up to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation ' ; cf. l" 2i 210 f,» 0"). The same is frequently the case in 1 Peter (e.f/, 1^- 8- 10 ' a salvation re.ady to be revealed at the last time,' ' the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls,' but cf. 321), and in the letters of St. Paul (e.gr, Eo 1311 ' Now is salvation nearer to us than when we believed ' ; cf. 610, 1 Co 3^5 5^, 2 Ti 4I8). The early Christians, almost without exception, felt themselves livinp at the end of the ages (1 Co lOH), and looked at any moment for the return of their Master to set up His heavenly Kingdom (see Parousia). Doubtless the resur- rection experiences had much to do with this. The revelation of Jesus in glory, the assurance that He was even now sitting at the right hand of the Father, tended to emphasize the tran- Bcendent element* in His teaching, and to magnify the contrast between this present evil age and tfiat which was to come. Thus St. Peter in Acts urges his hearers to save themselves from this crooked generation (Ac 2-*0), and St. Paul declares that if in this world only Christians have hope in Christ, they are of all men most pitiable (1 Co 1519). The contrast in both these passages, unlike that involved in the Johannine doctrine of the world, of which we shall speak presently, is a temporal one. The time of present distress is set over against that of future glory. At the great day of the Parousia, which is im- pending, there is to be a transformation of the universe (Ho 821, 1 Co 731), new heavens and a new earth (Rev fill), and believers, with their risen brethren who have gone before (1 Th 41^), shall be clothed with heavenly bodies (1 Co 16*7-iy), and enter upon an existence adapted — as the present cannot t>e — to the enjoy- ment and practice of the spiritual life (Ro S^, cf. v.H).