Salvation as “salve” instead of forgiveness (February 4, 2008)
As open-minded theologians have noted, the Greek word for “salvation” used most frequently in the New Testament means to save from suffering, rather than to save from sins. The point is that Jesus came primarily to bring us healing rather than forgiveness.
This distinction applies even to the passages preferred by hellfire preachers when they want to scare their audiences, such as Philippians 2:12, which says we are to “work out our salvation with fear & trembling.” What this passage actually means is that we must work out our healing in fear & trembling—the goal is not to save ourselves from burning in hell but rather to secure our own well-being, our own greatest joy. Whatever we do in order to “work out our salvation” makes us feel the best we possibly can feel. The “fear & trembling” part is a way of getting across just how much better we can feel by doing this than we feel if we don’t do it!
Of course for most people this well-being is primarily mental rather than physical, but it’s all connected, and moreover, isn’t mental well-being what we all desire anyway? We want to be happy, right? Well, this being right with God and working out whatever it is he wants us to do is, quite simply, the only way to be happy!
If you doubt that claim, just look out there—people who have every level of success & riches imaginable, including people who can seemingly have their pick of romantic partners, are still not happy! The fact of the matter is that the only way to fill up the emptiness that everyone feels in this life is to center our lives around God (the God of Love).
