Models of Salvation in Christ: Classical and Contemporary
Models of Salvation in Christ: Classical and Contemporary
As we noted earlier, the idea of “salvation” is exceptionally complex. One of the tasks of theology is to provide a critical analysis of the constituent elements of this idea. However, even this project is considerably more complex than it might seem. Different aspects of the Christian understanding of salvation have proved to have especial attraction for different periods of church history, or specific situations, reflecting the manner in which each aspect of this understanding interlocks with the specifics of the situation it addresses.
Recent studies of the theory of the Christian mission have laid considerable emphasis upon the importance of contextualization and the notion of the receptor orientation of the Christian proclamation. In other words, the Christian gospel is recognized to address specific situations and to contextualize the notion of salvation in those situations. To those who are oppressed, whether spiritually or politically, the gospel message is that of liberation. To those who are burdened by the weight of personal guilt, the “good news” is that of forgiveness and pardon.
The gospel is thus related to the specific situation of its audience – in other words, it is receptor oriented. If any of the following models of salvation were to be regarded as totally constitutive of the Christian understanding of salvation, a severely truncated and reduced gospel would result. However, it is widely agreed that a difference of emphasis within the range of understandings of the nature of salvation is acceptable.
In what follows, we shall explore a selection of components of this understanding and indicate the situations in which they have particular appeal and relevance. However, it must be appreciated that others – such as salvation as moral perfection or deliverance from the transience of this world – could easily be instanced.
We may begin our consideration of the way in which “salvation” is to be understood by exploring some of the central soteriological terms used in Paul's letters in the New Testament; these have had a significant impact on subsequent theological reflection.
Some Pauline Images of Salvation
The Pauline letters set out to explain some aspects of the Christian faith to their readers – often in controversial circumstances – and to encourage their application to the life of believers. It should therefore be no cause of surprise that Paul often deals with the issue of precisely what it is that has been achieved for believers through the death of Christ. Among the images that Paul uses in this respect, we may here consider four, as follows.
Having examined some of Paul's language about salvation, we may now turn to consider how this has been explored and developed within the Christian theological tradition.
Deification: Being Made Divine
“God became human, in order that humans might become God” (Athanasius of Alexandria). This theological refrain may be discerned as underlying much of the soteriological reflection of the eastern Christian tradition, both during the patristic period and in the modern Greek and Russian Orthodox theological traditions.
The word “deification” is used to translate two different Greek words regularly used by writers such as Athanasius: theosis (“becoming divine”) and theopoiesis (“being made divine”). There is a distinction between the idea of deification as “becoming God” (theosis) and as “becoming like God” (homoiosis theoi). The first, associated with the Alexandrian school, conceives of deification as a union with the substance of God; the second, associated with the Antiochene school, interprets the believer's relationship with God more in terms of a participation in that which is divine, often conceived in terms of ethical perfection. The distinction between these approaches is subtle and reflects significantly different Christologies, which we noted earlier (pp. 220–3).
As the citation from Athanasius suggests, there is an especially strong link between the doctrine of the incarnation and this understanding of salvation. For Athanasius, salvation consists in human participation in the being of God. The divine Logos is imparted to humanity through the incarnation.
On the basis of the assumption of a universal human nature, Athanasius concluded that the Logos did not merely assume the specific human existence of Jesus Christ but that of human nature in general. As a consequence, all human beings are able to share in the deification which results from the incarnation. Human nature was created with the object of sharing in the being of God; through the descent of the Logos, this capacity is finally realized. Theosis is the means of salvation by which the believer is incorporated, not merely into the divine essence but also into the person of Christ, who, by virtue of the hypostatic union, is the mediator of divinity to humanity.
An emphasis upon “deification” is characteristic of eastern Christianity. Critics of the notion of “deification” have suggested that it represents a Greek philosophical notion that was improperly accommodated by eastern Christianity. Others, however, argue that the concept has deep biblical roots, and note how the notion is present in many western writers, including Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards (1703–58).
A modern Orthodox writer who places considerable emphasis on the notion of deification is the Russian writer Vladimir Lossky. In a 1953 essay on the theme of “redemption and deification,” Lossky sets out the distinctive Orthodox understanding of the relationship between the descent of God to humanity and the subsequent ascent of humanity to God:
The descent (katabasis) of the divine person of Christ makes human persons capable of an ascent (anabasis) in the Holy Spirit. It was necessary that the voluntary humiliation, the redemptive self-emptying (kenosis) of the Son of God should take place, so that fallen men might accomplish their vocation of theosis, the deification of created beings by uncreated grace. Thus the redeeming work of Christ – or rather, more generally speaking, the Incarnation of the Word – is seen as directly related to the ultimate goal of creatures: to know union with God. If this union has been accomplished in the divine person of the Son, who is God become man, it is necessary that each human person should in turn become god by grace, or become “a partaker in the divine nature,” according to St. Peter's expression (2 Peter 1: 4).
Righteousness in the Sight of God
“How do I find a gracious God?” Martin Luther's question has resonated down the centuries for those who shared his heartfelt conviction that sinners could not hope to find acceptance in the sight of a righteous God. For Luther, the question of salvation came to be linked with the issue of how guilt-ridden humans could ever possess a righteousness which would enable them to stand in God's presence. This concern is by no means outdated, as can be seen from the words of C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) in Mere Christianity (1952): “In my most clearsighted moments not only do I not think myself a nice man, but I know that I am a very nasty one. I can look at some of the things I have done with horror and loathing.” Such concerns naturally led to the use of legal or forensic categories in relation to the question of justification. For Luther, the gospel offered a justifying righteousness to believers – a righteousness which would shield them from condemnation and permit them to enter into the presence of God (see pp. 338–9).
Such insights were developed within later Protestant orthodoxy and achieved a wide circulation in popular Protestant devotional writings and hymns. In a period in which the threat of divine punishment was taken with considerable seriousness (witness Jonathan Edwards's passionate sermons on this theme), the idea of deliverance from condemnation on account of sin was regarded as of central importance to the gospel. One of the hymns to express this concern for righteousness in the sight of God with particular force is “And Can it Be?,” by Charles Wesley (1707–88). The last verse includes the following lines:
- No condemnation now I dread;
- Jesus, and all in him, is mine!
- Alive in him, my living head!
- And clothed in righteousness divine.
Personal Holiness
One of the most important movements in western Christianity has placed considerable emphasis on the cross as the basis of personal holiness. The Wesleyan or Holiness traditions, which include the Church of the Nazarene, stress the importance of the personal demonstration of holiness. The holiness of the believer is grounded in the work of Christ and effected through the work of the Holy Spirit. The origins of this approach are to be traced back to John Wesley (1703–91). While Wesley asserted the primacy of justification, and the assurance the believer could have based upon the righteousness of Christ, he insisted upon the need for development in holiness.
Wesley's notion of perfection was not that of sinlessness but of an ever-deepening process of comprehensive moral change. In developing this point, Wesley drew upon the works of those whom he termed the “mystic writers” (a category including Anglicans such as William Law, 1686–1761; Catholics such as Francis de Sales, 1567–1622, Madame Guyon, 1648–1717, and François Fenélon, 1651–1715; and the Lutheran Pietist Augustus H. Francke, 1663–1727). From them, Wesley learned that the heart of true godliness is a motivating spirit of love to God and humanity, without which religion is hollow and empty.
These ideas were developed further within American Methodism. Francis Asbury (1745–1816) held that believers should be encouraged to expect “entire sanctification” at some point in their lives. The growing emphasis on revivalism within nineteenth-century American Protestantism emphasized the importance of definable turning points in a Christian's life. This form of “holiness preaching” tended to center around Wesley's teaching of “entire sanctification” as a second crisis experience, subsequent to, and dependent upon, justification. In part, this emphasis on the need for holiness represents a response to the moral devastation of the American nation resulting from the Civil War. In 1870, Methodist bishops in the southern states began to re-emphasize sanctification, arguing that “nothing is so much needed at the present time throughout all these lands, as a general and powerful revival of scriptural holiness.”
A key figure in the later development of this holiness teaching was Phoebe Worrall Palmer (1807–74), undoubtedly the most influential Methodist woman of her generation. Palmer developed Wesley's doctrine of entire sanctification, modifying it in some significant ways. Like Wesley, she taught that entire sanctification is a second distinct work of grace in which God cleanses the believer's heart of sin and fills it wholly with divine love. Such holiness of the heart is a requirement for entry into heaven. Because God commands this holiness, Palmer argues, God must also supply the ability to attain it, and God gives that ability in response to the Christian's faith.
Where Wesley had seen holiness as a gift, Palmer now tended to see it as an obligation. The focus of sanctification tended to be wholly upon a single point of wholehearted commitment, and divorced from any gradual process. And, where Wesley had tended to conceive holiness as something that is gradually attained, Palmer tended to emphasize its instantaneous elements. This point is significant, as it indicates links between Palmer's holiness teaching and that later associated with Pentecostalism. In this context, it is important to note Palmer's identification of entire sanctification with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the related link that she identified between holiness and power.
Authentic Human Existence
The rise of existentialism brought with it a new concern for authentic human existence (pp. 155, 231). Existentialism, protesting against the dehumanizing tendency to treat humans as objects devoid of any subjective existence, demanded that attention be paid to the inner lives of individuals. The distinction drawn by Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) between “authentic existence” and “inauthentic existence” represented an important statement of the bipolar structure of human existence. Two options were open. Rudolf Bultmann, developing such an approach, argued that the New Testament spoke of two possible modes of human existence: an authentic or redeemed existence, characterized by faith in God, and an inauthentic existence, characterized by being fettered to the transient material order. For Bultmann, Christ made possible and available, through the kerygma, authentic existence (see pp. 239, 433–4).
Bultmann does not entirely reduce salvation to the notion of “authentic existence,” as if Christianity related solely to the experiential world of individuals. However, the emphasis which he placed upon this notion tended to create the impression that this was the sum total of the “salvation” offered through the gospel.
A related approach was developed by Paul Tillich, using a slightly different set of terms. Within the context of Tillich's system, “salvation” does indeed seem to be reduced to little more than a general human philosophy of existence, offering insights to those who are aware of tensions within their personal existence. This outlook has been criticized by many concerned with the transcendent elements of salvation, as well as those wishing to draw attention to the political and social aspects of the Christian gospel, such as liberation theology.
Political Liberation
Latin American liberation theology places considerable emphasis upon the idea of salvation as liberation (see pp. 74–5). The title of Leonardo Boff's (born 1938) Jesus Christ Liberator (1972) makes this point forcefully. Salvation is here contextualized in the political world of Latin America, including its radical and pervasive poverty and the struggle for social and political justice. God is seen to side with the exploited peoples of the world, as in the deliverance of Israel from captivity and oppression under Pharaoh. Similarly, Jesus appears to have expressed and exercised a preferential option for the poor in his teaching and ministry. Jesus Christ brings liberation, through both his teaching and his lifestyle.
Theologically, this is expressed in terms of stressing the social dimensions of sin. Oscar Romero (1917–80) defined social sin as “the crystallization of individual egoisms in permanent structures which maintain this sin and exert its power over the great majorities.” Sin is thus not seen primarily in individual terms, as in some western approaches to salvation. Rather, it is seen in terms of sinful and oppressive social structures, which are to be challenged and combated. Leonardo Boff thus locates the significance of the death of Christ as disclosing the reality of structural sin, and offering inspiration to those who wish to oppose it. Jesus of Nazareth “historicizes in exemplary fashion the suffering experienced by God in all the crosses of the oppressed.”
Liberation theology has been criticized for viewing both the figure of Jesus and the concept of salvation in the light of a predetermined interpretive grid derived from the Latin American context. However, all Christologies and soteriologies are vulnerable to this charge. For example, the writers of the Enlightenment interpreted both the person and the work of Jesus Christ in terms of a predetermined framework, derived in part from the middle-class European context in which most of them existed and in part from the severely rationalist outlook characteristic of the movement. Equally, it can be argued that the Greek patristic writers tended to view Christ through a Hellenistic prism, which had significant consequences for their Christologies and soteriologies. However, the criticism just noted has validity, if the understanding of either the person or the work of Christ is reduced to a purely political or social conception of liberation.
Spiritual Freedom
The Christus victor approach to the death and resurrection of Christ lays considerable emphasis upon the notion of Christ's victory over forces which enslave humanity – such as satanic oppression, evil spirits, fear of death, and the power of sin. The early patristic writers had little difficulty in regarding these forces as real oppressive and hostile presences in the everyday world. In consequence, the proclamation of liberty from their oppression through the cross and resurrection of Christ came to be of central importance, as can be seen from the Easter homilies of writers such as John Chrysostom (c.347–407). Similar ideas can be shown to be prominent in the popular devotional and spiritual writings of the Middle Ages. Martin Luther continued this tradition, placing considerable emphasis upon the objective power of Satan in the world and the liberation resulting from the gospel.
With the rise of the Enlightenment worldview, belief in objective evil spirits or a personal devil became increasingly problematic. Writers sympathetic to the Enlightenment generally dismissed such beliefs as outmoded superstitions which had no place in the modern world. If the idea of “salvation as victory” was to remain current, it would have to be reinterpreted. Such a process can be seen taking place in the writings of Paul Tillich, where salvation is understood in terms of a victory over subjective forces which enslave humanity and trap it in inauthentic modes of existence. What the patristic writers treated as objective forces were thus treated as subjective or existential.