Probably religious Dopers will know the answer to this question most readily, but perhaps not.
I’m trying to remember every line in the New Testament that says specifically what people in the church are saved from. What I can remember is this: they’re saved from sin, they’re saved from the wrath of God, and they’re saved from “this corrupt generation.”
Are there any others?
(OT passages would be okay as a bonus as well…)
From being thrown into the Lake of Fire, which is the Second Death.
Revelation 20:13-15
If you are looking for the phrase “saved by” or “saved,” you could go to BibleGateway.com: Search for a Bible passage in 71 languages and 225 versions. and drop in the word or phrase to see where it appears.
If you are looking for concepts, it is going to be more difficult. (For example, Revelation 20:13-15, mentioned above, clearly shows the wicked being cast into the lake of fire and those who were not judged wicked being granted eternal life, but the word “saved” appears nowhere in the passage.)
I was afraid coming up with all the possible combinations of search terms would be too much, but I was wrong. Thanks, Tomndeb
Yes. Anything that’s wrong. Or bad. Or evil. Or imperfect. Or inconvenient.
Seriously.
The OT prophets talk about God bringing about restoration. And there was a lot to be restored. The OT prophets were from a time of warfare and collapse of their nation and social injustice. Restoration for them was not only the restoration of a Davidic Kingdom where they would have political freedom, but of Mosaic order where the Law that governs their relationship with God and each other would be written in their hearts. And then on top of that, restoration of Paradise lost… going back to Eden where the lion shall lie with the lamb and be led by a child (and no one gets eaten). And then on top of that, for all humanity to share in that “Day of the Lord” where God himself (or his agent… the Messiah) would bring about that Paradise for everyone. And all peoples will ascend Mt. Zion (the hill in Jerusalem on which The Temple is built) to worship the one true God.
Oh, yeah… and death will be no more.
And, not only death banished, but inconvenience! The hills made low, the valley filled in, and the crooked path made straight, because, you know, life’s a bitch.
So, the promises are being saved from: illness, death, war (beat their swords into ploughshares), hardship, persecution, slavery, hunger and thirst, imprisonment, natural disaster, wild animals, disunity, broken relationship with God, evil spirits, barrenness, shame, etc., etc…
If you want to know where it says all this, pick up any mainline Christian lectionary (the order of readings for Mass/The Lord’s Supper) and check out the first readings throughout the season of Advent. The preparation for the Coming of The Christ at Christmas has the stage set by all those OT longings and promises for salvation in preparation of showing that the birth of Christ has started and will bring to completion all those longings for salvation. As the gospel song says, “Jesus is the Answer” – the answer to what? Everything.
IIRC -
The original Jewish religion does not have the concept of souls going to hell; you simply “sleep” until the final judgement. Christianity appropriated the Greek concept of heaven and hell in the afterlife right after death, waiting for the final judgement.
So what you are “saved” from might vary whether you are reading Old Testament quotes or New Testament ones.
Not necessarily. While it is a common belief that people are instantly judged and instantly sent to Heaven/Hell, there are numerous passages in the New Testament that would best be understood using the Jewish concept of sleeping until the final judgment. For example, 1 Cor 15:51-52: “51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
The previously cited Revelations 20: 13-15 also suggests a period of “sleeping” before judgment: “13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
This is a little like the belief that people in Heaven are floating around on clouds with harps… while a very common belief, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything in the New Testament that says this.
Didn’t Jesus allegedly say to the good thief “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”? Doesn’t sound like a very long siesta is in the plans. Of course, this dialog could have been revised once the more Greek interpretation of afterlife was established by the Christians.
Well, this all gets into a tangent about the Hebrew understanding of immortality.
In the Torah (the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, aka, “The Law”) which represents, mostly, the most ancient of Hebrew beliefs, there is no mention of the afterlife. The presupposition is that one lived on in one’s children and descendents. That is why God’s promise to Abraham that he’ll have more descendents than countable stars was a way of saying, “hey, I’m gonna make you immortal.”
Even during the time of the Prophets and the Kingdom, there is almost no mention of the afterlife, but, there is the beginning of the idea that will lead to a personal afterlife: namely, personal responsibility. The prophets moved the moral code from a communal base (i.e., Israel as a whole is faithful or not, Israel as a whole is justified or not) to a personal base (i.e., God will reward those individuals who are faithful and punish those individuals who are not). The prophets called people to not only communal responsibility but also personal culpability. At this time we see mentions of Sheol, a shadowy netherworld where the dead are… maybe? The references are oblique with no explicit explanation of what is meant by it.
With the fall of Judah in the 500s BC (the southern kingdom, for the northern one of Israel fell and was obliterated a generation earlier), the ruling class was brought into exile into Bablyon and was introduced to Zoroastrianism. It is from this time that we see Hebrew worldview start to adopt beliefs in angels and demons (more so than before) and perhaps a personal afterlife.
By the time of the Book of Maccabees (100s BC) we see a belief among some in a personal afterlife of the just (and eternal non-existence for the unjust).
By the time of Jesus, we see the Hebrew community divided among the Sadducees, who are Pentateuchal fundamentalists and don’t believe in an afterlife and the Pharisees, who do.
Jesus comes down squarely on the side of eternal afterlife… reward for the just and punishment for the wicked who reject the offer of salvation. But the Gospels create a dual timeline for resurrection: There are references to immediate resurrection (Elijah and Moses appear to Jesus; the story of the beggar Lazarus going to the bosom of Abraham, “this day you will be with me in paradise”) and there are references to a delayed afterlife when referring to everyone rising at the resurrection to be judged.
Paul, in his letters, especially to the Thessalonians gets this confused when, to his and his community’s surprise, members of the community die before Christ’s return. He assures them that when Christ returns, the dead shall rise and join the living in the heavens.
The timeline of Revelation is just convoluted in imagery and retelling the history of the world in hidden imagery so as not to piss off the Romans – they don’t want to hear that the days of their empire are numbered. So, can’t use that for help.
The early Church settled on immediate resurrection as the orthodox position. Otherwise, can’t have saints in heaven if they’re just sleeping somewhere waiting to rise for judgement.
The modern mainline Churches settle the issue with science! Since God is outside space and time, then those who leave our universe to join God live with God in the Eternal Now. Any passage of time is only from our point of view. We perceive that the judgement will happen at the end of time, but, for each one that dies, they jump ahead to the end of time because from God’s point of view, all of time is the same. Fundamentalist Churches continue to confuse themselves over the issue of a period of sleeping or immediate resurrection, depending on which scriptures they’re reading at the moment… consistency is not their charism.