Taken Captive - Part 9 of 10
Cultural Heresies and the Church
By Justin Lonas

Editor’s Note: This is the ninth of 10 articles on areas in which entrenched unbiblical attitudes tend to hold sway in the Church. We are seeking to encourage believers to live up to Paul’s command to “see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

Click HERE to read Part 8.

Tradition Number 9—Soteriology

Nothing, it seems, is more fundamental to the nature of the Church than the truth of salvation. If there is no salvation, then God is made a liar and there is no Church, no hope, and no purpose in this life.

Like so many other areas of our faith, however, we largely “get” salvation theologically but often distort it in practice, missing its scope and purpose. We tend to reduce it from its full scriptural and spiritual significance to simply the transaction by which individuals attain eternal life. While it is definitely that—most well-taught Christians could tell you backward and forward about the substitutionary atonement of Christ, repentance, and the indwelling of the Spirit—we can get so caught up in the details that we miss the beauty of the whole story. To so cheapen salvation is to miss one of the clearest beacons of God’s glory on earth.

In Scripture, we see a more holistic view of salvation from the start. In the Old Testament, most references to God’s salvation refer to deliverance from a present, physical danger. We see this in Moses’ song of praise after the crossing of the Red Sea and demise of Pharaoh’s army: “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will extol Him” (Ex. 15:2). In Psalm 3:8 (written by David as he fled from Absalom) and Jonah 2:9 (from the belly of the great fish), Scripture declares that “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” In these and other instances, it is clear that salvation is God’s prerogative—it’s not about what we bring to the table. He saves both because He loves us and because it manifests His glory and power.

In Isaiah (whose name means “Salvation is Yahweh”), we start to see a shift in meaning toward the spiritual realm. We get a sense of salvation’s necessity in light of God’s holiness—in sin, we are apart from God and against Him, and salvation becomes God’s means of protecting us from His just wrath. “And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God and there is no other” (Is. 45:21b-22). Is. 51:6 describes salvation as eternal, and chapter 59 develops the idea of salvation as restoration to God’s purpose and the remedy for our separation from Him.

In the passages above, the Hebrew word translated “salvation” is Yshûw‛âh (fem. passive participle of yâsha‘, “to free, to succor, to be free”), meaning “something saved, deliverance, aid, victory, salvation, health, prosperity”, and “save” or “saved” are translated from yêsha‘ (also from yâsha‘). In a few passages (such as Psalm 37:39), tshûw‘âh (from shâva‘, “to cry out”) is translated “salvation”, giving a sense of God’s answer to our cry for deliverance.

 These terms each have a connotation of restoration that includes, but is not limited to, the individual experience of deliverance. God’s salvation concerns making things right (e.g. deliverance from sickness to health, danger to safety, sin to God’s will, etc.) and conforming us to His will. The Hebrew name Yêshûwah‘  (“He will save”), from which we transliterate “Jesus”, comes from the same root (yâsha‘), casting Christ as the ultimate restorer—the one who brings God’s fulfilled kingdom.

Salvation in the New Testament primarily centers around two Greek words: the verb sozō (“to heal, preserve, save, or deliver, to be made whole”) translated as “save”, and the nouns soteria or its neut. form, soteriōn (“rescue, safety, deliverance, health, salvation”) translated as “salvation”. As the majority of the New Testament was written by Jews, the meanings and usage of these terms corresponds closely to the Old Testament concept of salvation, though in Christ, they take on a more definitively spiritual value.

When Jesus was presented at the temple as a baby, Simeon proclaims, “For my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:30-32), presenting Christ as the personification of God’s ultimate deliverance. Romans 8 likewise casts the gift of salvation as God’s ultimate glory, painting a “big picture” in which our individual redemption is the centerpiece of God’s restoration of all creation to His design.

Elsewhere in the New Testament, we see that salvation is part of God’s plan for men (John 3:17, 1 Thes. 5:9), only through Christ (Acts 4:12, et. al), God’s free gift by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), found through wisdom (2 Tim. 3:15), and a treasure to be cherished that we neglect at our own peril (Heb. 2:3).

In addition to deliverance, salvation is portrayed as our adoption and reception of a new identity as God’s own children. In Galatians 4:4-8, Paul points to adoption as a purpose of redemption. That is, Christ redeemed us to be sons and heirs of God—responsible bearers of His name and agents of His will. John tells us that because we are children of God “we know that when he appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2)—He saves us to conform us to His Son.

Our response to salvation is further described in terms of obedience and work as God completes His work in us in Phil. 2:12-13, Heb. 5:9, et. al. In this light, salvation becomes gift filled with significance and responsibility focused as much on what we are delivered to as what we are delivered from.