the deepening apprehension of what true life means. The dangers become less external, more spiritual ; less transient, more permanent ; less local, more universal, but the underljing thought abiiles. We may illustrate at once the perma- nent elements in the idea and those that are transient by considering the contrast between (a) the temporal and the spiritual ; (h) the individual and the social ; (c) the present and the future.
{a) Salvation as temporal a7id spiritual. — In the earlier portions of the OT 'life is used in the familiar sense of animal existence. ' Death ' means phj'sical destruction, with the loss of all that that entails. When a man dies, he loses everythin" worth having — home and friends, health and strength, national relationships and responsibili- ties, the privileges of Divine worship and of Divine communion. We misrepresent the OT conception of Sheol when we speak of the shadowy existence in the under-world as life after death. In the gloomy monotony of the grave the Wgour and vitality whicli gave joy to life are lost. Man exists, indeed, but it is with ' a negative existence, a weakened edition of his former self ; his facultio dormant, without strength, memory, consciousness, knowledge, or the energy of any affection. . . . The colour is gone from everytliing ; a washed-out copy is all that is left' (Salmond, Imvwitality* (I'JUl), p. 163). It is not strange that, where this view obtains, the great evil to be feared is physical death (I's 6*- °), and the supreme blessing to be coveted a long life (Ps 91"). The Divine salva- tion is found in deliverance from all that threat- ens or impairs life, all th,at weakens its vi''our or vitality — violence, oppression, captivity, calamity, trouldes, and distresses of every kind. The great blessing which God gives is prosperity — a long life and a full one, with one's wife a fruitful vine, and one's children as olive plants about the table (Ps 128). Greatest of all evils to be fe.ared is defeat in battle, since in the stern days with which we have to do it carries witli it the loss of all that men count dear, both for the individual and for the nation.
But with the deepening of the moral insight we note the rise of a deeper conception. Life Ls seen to involve more than outwarcl prosperity. It has an inner spiritual meaning. A man lives, in the full meaning of the word, only when he enters into communion with God in righteousness and love. From this point of view the great evil to be feared is not physical but moral. It is sin which destroys the communion between a man and his .Maker. From sin therefore, first of all, a man needs to be delivered. We have seen how this truth comes to expression in the latter portions of the OT. Jesus puts it in the forefront of His teaching, and it has been the distinct note of the Christian Gos])el ever since. Salvation is prinuarily deliverance from sin. It is the restoration of the interrupted communion between the Fatlier and His children through the creation in the latter of a new spiritual life. Once dead in trespasses and sins, they are made alive again through union with the living Christ. Thus it is still death from which men need to be delivered, but it is a death which is B|)iritual, not i)hysical.
One mark of the contrast between the two views is found in the changed estimate of suffering. To most of the OT, sull'ering is purely evil. It is a mark of that destnietion and decay from which man needs to be delivered. To the NT, it has become a means through whicli man may enter into a more abundant life. The Christian glories in his weakness. He ' takes pleasure ... in in- juries ... in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake,' knowing that when he is weak, then is he strong (2 Co 12»- '»).
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SALVATION, SAVIOUR
SALVATION, SAVIOUE
And yet we must not exaggerate the contrast. We misrei)rcsent the NT teaching if we limit the blessings of the Gospel to the spiritual realm. The outer world as well as the inner is the scene of God's rule. The common physical blessings are not to be despised. Christ healed the sick as well as preached to the poor. The Father whom He proclaimed knows that His children need earthly bread as well as the bread from heaven. St. Paul, fur all his contrast between flesh and sjjirit, recog- nizes the lawfulness of the p'nj-sical appetites. The abstinence which he practises and recommends is out of regard for others' consciences, not because of any inherent evil in flesh and wine (Ro 14, cf. 1 Ti 4''). The physical universe is the scene and instrument of spiritual training. The body is a temple of the Holy Ghost ( 1 Co 6"). And, however great the change in the future, it is to no disem- bodied existence that he looks forward, but to a life in which the phj'sical organism, now tainted by sin, shall be exchanged for a new body better adapted for the spiritual life (1 Co 15^"-). Nothing is more characteristic of the Biblical view of the future, NT as well as OT, than the extent to which it pictures the heavenly life in imagery suggested by the earthly. The heavenly city, the marriage feast, the many mansions, the tree of life, the crystal river, — these form the setting for spiritual joys. The last scene is not the destruc- tion of the universe, but its transformation and redemption (Ro 8-').