Tony, can you please explain why Jesus’ death is not salvific? Did He die the second death? Did He die for my sins – very common statement?
I’ve had many questions come in regarding the cross. When I consider the narrative we have today vs the actual understanding of the people writing about this moment it’s as if I’m seeing two very different perspectives; and truth be told, I am.
To answer this it’s important to first understand that the people writing the Torah (first five books of what is commonly known as the Old Testament) were a tribal/nomadic people who were constantly being conquered by empire after empire. Their temple was torn down time and time again and they were marched hundreds of miles like cattle to assimilate, to essentially leave their way of life and adopt their captive’s religion, culture, and politics. This is what most tribes did when conquered and yet Israel is an interesting tribe. For some reason they are able to hold on to their culture and religion. They choose not to adopt Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and other’s culture– they hold fast to their own. In the midst of captivity they find a way to preserve their values by writing stories that encapsulated who they were and what they believed about the world around them. Each story was written, not as a history book, but a retelling of who they were, what they valued, vices to avoid, and deep wisdom of the ages passed down in beautiful mythopoetic pieces of common flood stories, battles won, and heroic feats. They were a group of immigrants learning to walk in a new awareness of life. They did not see themselves as a conquering empire; they actually saw themselves as an innocent victim.
What you’ll find in their writings is a movement away from warring empire and into a peaceful tribe of people learning to live at peace with one another (though they will struggle often) and someday even their neighbors. They are a group of people who learn to embrace pain and struggle with the hope of new life from the struggle. This cycle of captivity, death, wandering and resurrection is their story. It’s the very fabric of their identity. This is why Israel saw themselves as the suffering servant (Isaiah 53). This chapter, within context, reveals how Israel understood that to be a peaceful tribe whose bend is toward restoration will not be an easy road. They understood that when faced with the warring, beast like empires of Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome they looked like a sacrificial lamb which is why their sacrifices to their god was not a virgin, a conquering hero, a first born son but a lamb; it’s the way they understood themselves to be. So for them they understood that death was simply part of life and yet held on to the hope that new life would come from it. They held onto the hope that they would someday leave Egypt, escape Babylon, rebuild their temple and live peacefully again.
For them the one central question that saturated their writings was this, “When will we be free?” And the answer of course is found all throughout the narrative. It’s an answer that is not always easy to swallow.
For them freedom was found in the story of Daniel. In the midst of captivity the person of Daniel shows his captive people that one can still experience freedom, a kind of freedom found in one’s heart. When one can learn to be free in the midst of captivity they are free anywhere. This salvation theme is found in almost every story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua. It’s the cycle of captivity, exile, freedom, wandering, learning and unlearning into new life only to repeat it again.
The lesson Israel was learning was that once one finds freedom within they will carry that beautiful kingdom come reality anywhere they go. Their very way of life is not preserved on scrolls and parchment but lived out daily and preserved within each of them.
And so the idea of salvation, a word in the Greek meaning healing and repair, was something Israel was slowly beginning to understand would not happen in a literal kingdom where they would be the dominating force/ empire but salvation happens deep inside. This kingdom of heaven they were looking for where healing and repair would be experienced is best summed up in Jesus’ words when he is asked where this kingdom come reality is. He said, ” The Kingdom of Heaven will not come with observable signs. Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it it is’, or’ There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of heaven is within you.'”
Jesus essentially echos what the ancients believed yet his people tended to forget. The road toward healing and repair would not be found in adopting the culture of war, violence and power. The path toward salvation, healing, repair; the path of Israel is the path of suffering. It’s almost as if the Hebrews understood that in order to be fully alive one must be willing to allow certain ideologies to die. In order to be free you must learn be a servant. Real Shalom (nothing missing and nothing broken) is not lionlike but lamblike.
And so to answer the question. Does Jesus’ death bring salvation? Within the proper context, removed from the Augustinian view of Original Sin (an idea derived from Medieval Catholicism and far from Jewish–read more about this unBiblical view here), the death of Jesus was really the story if Israel played out once more reminding them the path toward healing does not come from the sword but the laying down of it. Real freedom from captivity is when the captive can look at the captor and say, “father forgive them they know not what they do,” and in that beautiful moment take back all power, dignity and freedom. When one understands this, then the cross is one of the most beautiful pictures of salvation the world has ever seen.
With this original understanding the questions of a second death (does Jesus need to die twice in order to satisfy an angry God bc Adam and Eve ate from the wrong fruit tree or did Jesus HAVE to die in order to get us to heaven) are no longer relevant. The deeper meaning of the narrative hums when we observe the common narrative of a tribal people learning to be free, fully alive and able to take back their power and freedom by learning to silently, humbly love even their enemies.
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