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Dictionary Definition

salvation

Noun

1 (Christianity) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil [syn: redemption]
2 a means of preserving from harm or unpleasantness; "tourism was their economic salvation"; "they turned to individualism as their salvation"
3 the state of being saved or preserved from harm
4 saving someone or something from harm of from an unpleasant situation; "the salvation of his party was the president's major concern"

User Contributed Dictionary

English

Pronunciation

Noun

  1. the process of being saved, the state of having been saved (from hell)
  2. The process of being restored or made new for the purpose of becoming saved; the process of being rid of the old poor quality conditions and becoming improved.

Translations

Related terms

Extensive Definition

In theology, salvation can mean three related things:
The theological study of salvation is called Soteriology and also covers the means by which salvation is effected or achieved, and its results or effects.

Etymology

Salvation is a 13th century English word c.1225, originally contributed to the Christian sense, from O. Fr. salvaciun, from L.L. salvationem (nom. salvatio, a Church L. translation of Gk. soteria), noun of action from salvare "to save" (see save) http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=salvation, meaning deliverance from Gk. soter saviour + -logy, Soteriology.

Soteriology

Soteriology is the study of salvation. Soter, meaning saviour, and logos meaning word, reason or principle. Many religions give emphasis to salvation of one form or another, and as such have their own soteriologies. Some soteriologies are primarily concerned with relationships to, or unity with, gods; others more strongly emphasize the cultivation of knowledge or virtue. Soteriologies also differ in what sort of salvation they promise.

Soteriologies

Christian soteriology focuses on how Jesus Christ saves people from their sins, reconciling them with the Triune God. Islamic soteriology focuses on how humans can repent of and atone for their sins so as not to occupy a state of loss. Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God, meant to bring one into union with God. Hinduism, which teaches that we are caught in a cycle of death and rebirth called samsara, contains a slightly different sort of soteriology devoted to the attainment of transcendent moksha, meaning liberation. For some this liberation is also seen as a state of closeness to Brahman. Jainism emphasizes penance and asceticism meant to lead to a liberation and ascendance of the soul. Buddhism is in a real sense devoted primarily to soteriology, i.e. liberation from suffering, ignorance, rebirth. Epicureanism is primarily concerned with temperance and simple life as a means to the absence of pain or freedom from anxiety (αταραξία) and Stoicism is concerned with the cultivation of virtues such as fortitude and detachment to improve spiritual well-being. Shinto and Tenrikyo similarly emphasize working for a good life by cultivating virtue or virtuous behavior, and many practitioners of Judaism also emphasize morality in this life over concern with the afterlife. In Falun Dafa () salvation refers to cultivation practice, or xiu lian, a process of giving up human attachments and assimilating to the Buddha Fa(佛 Fǒ, 法 Fǎ), or the fundamental characteristic of the universe, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance (真 zhen, 善 shan, 忍 ren).

Christianity

Salvation-Related Passages in Christian Scriptures

The New Testament contains 138 verses that, in English translation, use the words "salvation" (45), "save" (41) or "saved" (52). The following are some of the New Testament passages most cited in this regard. Interpretation of them varies.
In some nine verses, the Book of Ecclesiasticus or Wisdom of Sirach (considered by Orthodox and Catholics to be Scriptural), while not using the words "save" or "salvation", places a heavy emphasis on the importance of almsgiving, saying that performing this act can atone for sin, e.g., Bible verse |Sir|3:30, "Water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin." Similarly, sin is spoken of as being atoned for by sacrifice, as in Bible verse |Leviticus|16:30 - "On this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord."
Sometimes it is necessary to make a distinction between temporal and eternal salvation when considering the scriptures which use the term "salvation." This can be especially important within the Christian faith.

Roman Catholicism

Roman Catholics believe "Man stands in need of salvation from God," and "Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him." It was for our salvation that "God loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins; the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world, and he was revealed to take away sins." "By his death (Jesus, the Son of God) has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men."
Jesus has provided the Church with "the fullness of the means of salvation which [the Father] has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession". Baptism is necessary for salvation. And the sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn." But these are not the only sacraments of importance for salvation: "The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation." This holds especially for the Eucharist: ".Every time this mystery is celebrated, the work of our redemption is carried on and we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ."
At the same time, however, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that through the graces Jesus won for humanity by sacrificing himself on the cross, salvation is possible even for those outside the visible boundaries of the Church. Christians and even non-Christians, if in life they respond positively to the grace and truth that God reveals to them through the mercy of Christ may be saved. This may include awareness of an obligation to become part of the Catholic Church. In such cases, "they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it, or to remain in it." Catholics believe that people, even those who are not explicitly Christian, have the moral law written in their hearts, according to Jeremiah 31:33 (prophecy of new covenant): "I will write my law on their hearts." St. Justin wrote that those who have not accepted Christ but follow the moral law of their hearts (logos) follow God, because it is God who has written the moral law in each person's heart. Though he may not explicitly recognize it, he has the spirit of Christ. According to Fr. William Most's article for EWTN (the primary Catholic television network), those who have the spirit of Christ belong to the body of Christ. He writes, "Those who follow the Spirit of Christ, the Logos who writes the law on their hearts, are Christians, are members of Christ, are members of His Church. They may lack indeed external adherence; they may never have heard of the Church. But yet, in the substantial sense, without formal adherence, they do belong to Christ, to His Church."
Catholic doctrine states that a person is not guilty of disbelief in Christ, and could be saved, if it is due to invincible ignorance, or ignorance which could not be disposed of, even if the person were to try to educate himself or herself about the nature of God. Such ignorance may be a result of a non-Catholic or non-Christian upbringing, as well as a result of never having heard of Jesus. However, those who are saved even though they have not faith in Jesus are saved not because of their disbelief, but in spite of it, because of God's mercy.
Finally, a Catholic's salvation also depends on the actions he freely chooses during his life. If he commits a very grave sin, fully conscious of its severity and with full intent, then he could not be saved without repenting for the action.

Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity was much less influenced by Augustine, and even less so by either Calvin or Arminius. Consequently, it doesn't just have different answers, but asks different questions; it generally views salvation in less legalistic terms (grace, punishment, and so on) and in more medical terms (sickness, healing etc.), and with less exacting precision. Instead, it views salvation more along the lines of theosis, a seeking to become holy or draw closer to God, a concept that has been developed over the centuries by many different Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Christians. It also stresses Jesus' teaching about forgiveness in Bible verse |Matthew|6:14-15: "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." See also Sermon on the Mount.
The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church, known also as The Catechism of St. Philaret http://www.tserkovnost.org/catechism_filaret/catechism_filaret-2.html includes the questions and answers: "155. To save men from what did (the Son of God) come upon earth? From sin, the curse, and death." "208. How does the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross deliver us from sin, the curse, and death? That we may the more readily believe this mystery, the Word of God teaches us of it, so much as we may be able to receive, by the comparison of Jesus Christ with Adam. Adam is by nature the head of all humanity, which is one with him by natural descent from him. Jesus Christ, in whom the Godhead is united with manhood, graciously made himself the new almighty Head of men, whom he unites to himself through faith. Therefore as in Adam we had fallen under sin, the curse, and death, so we are delivered from sin, the curse, and death in Jesus Christ. His voluntary suffering and death on the cross for us, being of infinite value and merit, as the death of one sinless, God and man in one person, is both a perfect satisfaction to the justice of God, which had condemned us for sin to death, and a fund of infinite merit, which has obtained him the right, without prejudice to justice, to give us sinners pardon of our sins, and grace to have victory over sin and death.
Orthodox theology teaches prevenient grace, meaning that God makes the first movement toward man, and that salvation is impossible from our own will alone. However, man is endowed with free will, and an individual can either accept or reject the grace of God. Thus an individual must cooperate with God's grace in order to be saved, though he can claim no credit of his own, as any progress he makes is possible only by the grace of God.

Protestants

Broadly speaking, Protestants hold to the five solas of the Reformation, which declare salvation to be by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone. Some Protestants understand this to mean that God saves solely by grace and that works follow as a necessary consequence of saving grace (see Lordship salvation), while others believe that salvation is rigidly by faith alone without any reference to works whatsoever (see Free Grace theology), while still others believe that salvation is by faith alone but that salvation can be forfeited if it is not accompanied by continued faith and the works that naturally follow from it.

Calvinism

Calvinists, who adhere to Lordship salvation, further understand the doctrines of salvation to include (but not limited to) the five points of Calvinism, all of which contrast sharply with Arminianism. In the Calvinist system, all people are born sinful (see original sin) and thus are in need of God to save them. God's plan of salvation included the appointing of the elect before the foundation of the world, according to His sovereign good pleasure. The entire process of being born again (or regeneration) is performed solely by the Holy Spirit prior to the person exercising faith, and, indeed, the doctrine of total inability says that faith is impossible apart from such divine intervention. All the elect necessarily persevere in faith because God keeps them from falling away. Thus, the Calvinist system is called monergism because God alone acts to bring about salvation.
Calvinists recognize three tenses of salvation as they are used in the Bible: a Christian has been saved (past), is being saved (present), and will be saved (future). These three steps have also been distinctly referred to as: regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. All three tenses are needed in order to be saved, all three are freely given of God through Jesus Christ, and all three together constitute the full biblical meaning of salvation. Calvinists confirm, according to Romans 8:30 & Philippians 1:6, that the presence of the first (i.e. if you have been saved) means that the other two will surely follow.

Churches of Christ

See also: Churches of Christ, Church of Christ
Churches of Christ adopt the standard Protestant notions that humans are lost in sin but can be redeemed because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, offered himself as the atoning sacrifice. However, the means of salvation that these churches practice relies heavily on the role played by the doctrine of baptism. Churches of Christ generally reject original sin, Calvinism, and Arminianism. The Salvation of babies and children is assured by God's grace. Once believers reach an age of accountability, they must believe in the Lord with all their heart (Acts 16:31), repent of all sin (Acts 2:38), confess their faith in Christ (Rom. 10:9), and be buried in Believer's baptism (Acts 2:38; Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:26-27). Churches of Christ differ on whether or not this plan constitutes a salvific work, a sign of faith, or a free gift of God's grace, and because they are strongly congregational, there is no statement of uniformity on this matter.

Arminianism

Like Calvinists, Arminians agree that all people are born sinful and are in need of salvation that only comes in the way described by the five solas. However, they argue that each person can successfully resist God's offer of salvation and that a person can lose his or her salvation if one does not maintain it by continued faith in Jesus. Arminians distinguish between loss of faith and sin and believe that sin alone cannot result in the loss of salvation. However, John Wesley taught that that continued backsliding could inevitably lead to loss of faith, and consequently salvation, if left uncorrected.
The Arminian emphasis on free will, or more properly, free choice is important in salvation. If one has free choice, each individual can choose to accept or reject the gift of salvation. The fact that an individual is baptized or associates with other Christians does not mean that he or she has accepted salvation.
Those in the Reformed Protestant camp frequently attach the label Semipelagianism to Arminian ideas. Many Arminians disagree with this generalization and consider it a libel against Jacobus Arminius, John Wesley, and the many other Arminians who maintain original sin and total depravity.

Universalism

Universalists agree with both Calvinists and Arminians that men are born in sin and in need of salvation. They also believe that one is saved by Jesus Christ. However, they emphasize that judgment in hell upon sinners is of limited duration, and that God uses judgment to bring sinners to repentance.http://www.mercifultruth.com.

Emerging Church, Liberal Theology, and Liberation Theology

Within the emerging church and various branches of liberal or progressive Christianity, there are a number of different views on the meaning of salvation. This is largely related to post-modern views on Christianity as a dialogue rather than a set of doctrines. Salvation can mean a salvific personal and/or social deliverance from the effects of structural (social) or personal sins. In this context, salvation could mean anything from participation in a glorious afterlife – which is generally a less-commonly held belief in these circles – to a kind of liberation similar to that in Hinduism or Buddhism, to the repair of interpersonal relationships, to societal deliverance into a future perfect world (ie. the New Jerusalem or the Reign of God), and even to such concepts as gay liberation, women's liberation, the raising up of the oppressed and marginalized, or the equal distribution of goods. Any or all of these views are likely to be held and debated within the emerging church.

Christian Science and Salvation

The Christian Science textbook defines "Salvation" as follows: "Life, Truth and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures p. 593, by Mary Baker Eddy.)

New Church

In the New Church salvation is seen as the process of spiritual rebirth, rather than an instantaneous event. Christ is not seen as an atoning sacrifice to appease an angry Father, but is seen as Jehovah, God Himself, come to subdue the Hells, make His Human Divine, and redeem people's freedom to believe in Him and follow the path of salvation He has laid out. This path is seen in the model of His life on earth. It is still believed that a person is saved by Divine grace, but that one has the choice and must stop doing evil actions in order to receive this grace.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defines the term salvation in two distinct ways, based on the teachings of their modern-day prophet Joseph Smith, as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. The general Christian belief that salvation means returning to the presence of God and Jesus Christ is similar to the way the word is used in the Book of Mormon, wherein the prophet Amulek teaches that through the "great and last sacrifice" of the Son of God, "he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; ... to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice;" (Alma 34:14-16)

Judaism

Rabbinic Judaism teaches that "Every Jew has a share in the world to come (the afterlife)" (TB Sanhedrin 90a), and also that "the righteous people of other (non-Jewish) nations...", those who follow the elementary morals embodied in the Seven Noahide Laws, "...have a share in the world to come" (Tos. Sanhedrin 13, TB ibid. 105a). Although a person who sins may be punished either in this world or the next, punishment in the next world is in most cases limited in duration to 12 months (Mish. Eiduyot 2:10). Complete loss of a share in the afterlife (or, alternatively, eternal punishment; TB Rosh Hashanah 17a) is imposed for only a small number of very serious sins, most of which have to do with heresy. Even then a person can regain his share in the world to come through repentance and atonement. E. P. Sanders describes this overall view of salvation as "covenantal nomism".
Some Jewish denominations disagree with Rabbinic Judaism regarding the nature or importance of the afterlife. For them, the "world to come" may not be a significant focus of religious thought, since they emphasize that Judaism concentrates on the here and now.
See also Jewish Encyclopedia: Salvation, Christianity and Judaism, Jewish principles of faith.

Islam

seealso Jannah
In the Qur'an, God (Allah in Arabic), states (2:62): Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the Christians, and the converts; anyone who (1) believes in GOD, and (2) believes in the Last Day, and (3) leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve. http://www.submission.org/
According to all the traditional schools of jurisprudence, faith (Iman) ensures salvation. There are however differing views concerning the formal constituents of the act of faith. "For the Asharis it is centred on internal taṣdīḳ[internal judgment of veracity], for the Māturīdī-Ḥanafīs on the expressed profession of faith and the adherence of the heart, for the Muʿtazilīs on the performance of the 'prescribed duties', for the Ḥanbalīs and the Wahhābīs on the profession of faith and the performance of the basic duties." The common denominator of these various opinions is summed up in bearing witness that God is the Lord, L. Gardet states.contains the following description of Nirvāṇa}} or -
According to Jainism, moksa or liberation can be attained only in the human birth. Even the demi-gods and heavenly beings have to re-incarnate as humans and practice right faith, knowledge and conduct to achieve liberation. According to Jainism, human birth is quite rare and invaluable and hence a man should make his choices wisely.

Redemption

For other uses of the word, see Redemption
Redemption is a religious concept referring to forgiveness or absolution for past sins and protection from eternal damnation. Redemption is common in many world religions and all Abrahamic Religions, especially in Christianity and Islam. In Christianity redemption is synonymous with salvation.

See also

References

External links

salvation in Arabic: الخلاص
salvation in Bulgarian: Спасение
salvation in Czech: Spása
salvation in Danish: Frelse
salvation in German: Erlösung
salvation in Spanish: Salvación
salvation in French: Sotériologie
salvation in Korean: 구원
salvation in Hebrew: גאולה
salvation in Dutch: Verlossing
salvation in Japanese: 救済
salvation in Norwegian: Frelse
salvation in Polish: Zbawienie
salvation in Portuguese: Salvação
salvation in Russian: Спасение (христианство)
salvation in Serbian: Спасење
salvation in Finnish: Pelastus (uskonto)
salvation in Swedish: Frälsning
salvation in Vietnamese: Cứu rỗi
salvation in Ukrainian: Спасіння
salvation in Walloon: Schapaedje
salvation in Chinese: 救恩

Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words

adoption, circumcision, conservancy, conservation, conservationism, conversion, deliverance, delivery, environmental conservation, extrication, forest conservation, forest management, freeing, keeping, liberation, lifesaving, maintenance, new birth, new life, preserval, preservation, protection, ransom, rebirth, reclamation, recovery, redeemedness, redemption, reformation, regeneration, release, rescue, retrieval, safekeeping, salvage, saving, second birth, soil conservation, spiritual purification, stream conservation, support, sustentation, upkeep, water conservation, wetlands conservation, wildlife conservation
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