Salvation

Salvation comes from the Latin salus, which means “sound, safe.” The study of salvation is called soteriology. Salvation in a religious sense indicates an ultimate safety. Initially a person is in a state of spiritual danger, which indicates a future (or also present) punishment in some form; therefore the significance of salvation changes over time. Through the intervention of a deity or spiritual awareness, the individual is removed from spiritual danger and receives a spiritual reward. This turn from danger and punishment to safety and reward is salvation.

Note that the word salvation has European roots (Latin) and therefore is foremost a Christian concept. Most religions teach that nonpractitio-ners face danger and punishment, whereas adherents receive safety and reward. That similarity is expressed in a variety of methods depending on the religion. The word salvation is found almost solely within Christianity, yet the idea of turning from spiritual punishment to spiritual safety runs constant in all religions. For this reason, the concept of salvation has been used to describe other religious belief systems. Christianity makes the strongest use of the idea of salvation. Christianity focuses on Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe to be both a physical man and God incarnate. Christian salvation teaches that an individual needs to accept Jesus Christ as coming from God and follow Jesus's teachings in order to receive salvation. The reward for the adherent is eternity in heaven with God. The punishment for nonbelief is an eternity in hell apart from God. This is a broad characterization of Christianity, which itself has three main groupsCatholic, Orthodox, and Protestanteach with a different understanding of salvation. All three believe that Jesus is the cornerstone of salvation. Catholic Christians believe salvation is most properly practiced within the confines of church membership. Therefore Catholics receive salvation from within the Catholic Church. Orthodox Christians believe salvation is most properly practiced within the desire for a holy life. Orthodox Christians receive salvation from Jesus as they grow in holiness. Protestant Christians believe that salvation is most properly practiced as the individual accepts Jesus in a one-to-one experience with God. Protestants receive salvation from Jesus when they accept Jesus as God of their life and follow this through in action. These three Christian aspects of salvation developed over time, with Catholic and Orthodox developing concurrently and the Protestant aspect developing later.

The idea that salvation can be represented in an experience (or experiences) is found only in Protestant Christianity. This experience is known as “being saved.” Christian Catholicism and Orthodoxy do not have the experience of “being saved”; instead, both teach that the experience of God should be manifested within the Church. Because Christians believe that nonbelief results in an eternity in hell, they proselytize.

Judaism does not focus on salvation as an act of believing or accepting. Instead, Jews escape spiritual danger and receive spiritual safety in trying to live a life focused on God (in Hebrew, Yahweh, [Page 1126]often transliterated as Jehovah) coupled with a desire to combat sin, which is described in the Tanakh, or Jewish scriptures (which Christians refer to as the Old Testament). Yahweh will reward those who follow him through spiritual and physical blessings. Conversely, Yahweh will punish non-adherents, although the manner of punishment differs among the different Jewish religious groups. Traditionally Judaism has not proselytized because the religion teaches that Yahweh has chosen the Jews as an example to humanity of how to live.

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