What Does it Mean to be Saved?

Today I continue my series (begun last week) on what Mennonites believe. This is not an official statement, but my understanding of the sometimes unique way Mennonite Church USA approaches a variety of central beliefs.

A central concern of most Christians, and of the Bible, is how we are saved. But saved from what, and saved for what? What does salvation actually mean? A typical answer by many Christians would be something like this: To be saved means to be forgiven from our sins so that we can be in fellowship with God now and after we die.

This definition, as many Mennonites understand the Bible, is woefully inadequate and distorts what the various biblical writers are primarily seeking.

In the Old Testament, salvation (or to be saved) means to be rescued from a wide variety of dangers: illness, starvation, slavery, enemies, war, oppression, isolation, depression, poverty, homelessness, suffering, early death, etc. Anything that threatens the well-being of the individual or the community is a threat to salvation. The hoped-for goal of individuals and communities is “shalom”: a Hebrew word that is often translated as “peace” but is better understood as well-being. The Old Testament hopes for and looks forward to a world in which all nations will put down their weapons, violence ends, everyone receives fair justice, everyone has economic security, and all the families of the world are blessed. This is not a vision of heaven; this is the goal for life on earth, the moral and spiritual transformation of all society. How will this happen? When we all “know” God. To know God means to share a moral center (given us by God) in which our self-interest is replaced by a commitment to the common good. When we truly love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we will have a world of wellness and wholeness. And it is Israel’s job to share this moral vision with the world.

So in the Old Testament, to be saved is about this life and it’s about concrete well-being. When we move to the New Testament, this meaning of salvation continues. Jesus’ ministry focuses on bringing good news to the poor, convincing the rich to radically share their resources, breaking down social hierarchies and privileges, replacing isolation and rejection with inclusion and acceptance, loving one’s opponents, being nonviolent, restoring broken relationships, healing the sick, and feeding the hungry. Jesus calls this the dawning of “the kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God is not heaven, it is heaven on earth; it is people, devoted to God’s justice and goodness, working together to create a society of mutual care and healing. By following Jesus, by being loyal to him and following his teachings and example–even to the point of self-giving sacrifice of love–and by making further disciples of Jesus, we bring this healing and wholeness to the world.

But there’s a problem which Paul the apostle identifies; he calls it the power of sin. We all have an inclination toward self-interest and self-worship, and this results in all of our destructive and immoral behavior. Sin has power over us, not only individually, put it also permeates all of our social and political systems as well. How can we break the power of sin? How can we become good-centered (God-centered) like Jesus? Paul says we cannot do this by our own power, but that Jesus’ act of utter faithfulness, utter obedience, utter self-giving love embodied all the way to death on the cross, has the power to break through the power of sin. Jesus’ act of divine love enables us to nail our selfish nature to the cross, replacing self-centeredness with God-centeredness. Now we can become truly righteous–doing what is right and good.

Some people think Paul was saying that giving our loyalty to Jesus is how we’re forgiven, and then we are restored to God’s fellowship. But Paul says very little about forgiveness. He assumes, like most of the Bible assumes, that God’s forgiveness comes by repenting–by being genuinely sorry for our sins, taking responsibility, and renewing our commitment to right action. The problem is not that God can’t forgive us; the problem is that we, on our own, cannot do what is right. Paul wants us to have the power to do right. That is salvation.

By giving our loyalty to Jesus, we are spiritually and morally transformed; and that transformation means that we have entered God’s kingdom–something that begins now on earth and continues after we die.

So salvation isn’t essentially a ticket to heaven based on affirming certain doctrines; salvation means that we and the world around us are in the process of being spiritually and morally transformed by God’s guidance and love; we are becoming well and whole. If we are persisting in destructive attitudes or actions, we are not saved–just the opposite.

This is, of course, only a brief summary of biblical thinking about salvation. But it helps to point us toward a life of loyalty to God’s love, rather than primarily being about believing certain things. Faith means to trust–trust in God’s love and live out God’s love; it does not refer to cognitive beliefs, as important as those also may be.