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Man and his salvation in the Gospels:

The Christian scriptures regard man as being a single, unified being, consisting of soul and body,

neither of which exits for ever without the other. Consequently, they proclaim the resurrection of

the body in the last days; eternal life with God is taught as a prolongation of earthly life in body

and soul in total bliss and happiness. The Gita, on the other hand has a wholly dualistic view of

man, consisting of a perishable body and an immortal soul. The separation of the eternal soul

from the perishable body and its final union with Lord rishna constitutes salvation. That there

should be a resurrection of the body therefore must seem to the Gita!s followers the widest

improbability and not only it is supremely impossible, but it is also absolutely undesirable. "or

the body, and indeed all matter, is of its very nature corruptible; it passes away and can never be

reconstituted; the soul is by its very nature eternal and so can only suffer diminution and loss by

its association with the body. #f there were a resurrection of the body, then this would be the final

insult to much that the Gita stands for,

$imilarly there is not much agreement between the Gita and the Christian scriptures as regards

the way of man!s salvation. %s we have seen, the supreme evil which has befallen man,

according to the Gita, is that his eternal soul is hurled bac& into the revolving wheel of &arma '

samsara. (an must at all costs escape from it, and bha&ti or loving devotion to Lord rishna is

the best way, it according to the Gita, to final liberation. The deepest misery of man according to

the Christians scriptures, on the other hand, is the loss of God!s intimate love and friendship, and

thus the loss of holiness and the power to posses eternal life )Gen *+*; **+-. God in the Christian

scriptures is a living God, who alone possess the fullness of life an holiness, and the man, cut off

from God by his own evil will, is placed outside life and holiness )om. /+01-, and he is in a

state of man, cut off from the life2giving holiness of God; that is why the scriptures says of the

sinful man that he is dead and helpless to deliver himself )om *+0,/-. The real salvation of man,

therefore, consists in the deliverance from the state of sin and death which reigns over every

man. (ore than any other scriptural writer, 3aul spea&s of both the universality of man!s state of

sin and death and of his utter helplessness to deliver himself from such an unhappy state )om

*,0,/-, and he means it, 4what a wretched man # am who will rescue me from this body doomed

to death5 Than&s be to God through 6esus Christ, our Lord7 )om 8+01-.

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6esus begins his preaching of man!s salvation with a call to repentance and conversion of God,

the heavenly "ather. 4The time has come,7 he said, 4and the &ingdom of God is close at hand.

epent and believe the good news7 )(&. *+*9; (t. 1+*8-. The concept of conversion or turning

to God according to 6esus does not mean merely doing a penance or having contrition, but it

means an all2embracing change in one!s life, in one!s attitude, in one!s thin&ing and beliefs,

words and deeds, in a word, a total personal revolution in one!s whole life. $uch a radical change

of life affects man!s whole being and his relationship to God. 6esus bases the universal necessity

of such a total change on man!s life in the flesh )(&. 8+*120/, (t *9+*:20:-, and on the fact that

man has been turned away from God as a result of man!s sin, man!s refusal to love and submit

himself to the will of God )L&. *9+**201-.

The man of the flesh, as scripture calls the man in the state of sin, isolates himself from the life

giving holiness of God in autonomy of poverty in the pride of self2 sufficiency and thin&s that he

can save himself by himself. ut the man, who listens to 6esus! calls to repentance, recogni<es

his own utter poverty and see&s the salvation that comes from God in Christ. 4#f anyone wants to

be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and ta&e up his cross and follow me. "or

everyone who wants to save his life will lose it )(t. *=+01209; (&. >+/12/9; L&. +0/201-. The

repentant man goes out to himself, dies to what he was at first, to his own self sufficiency and

self righteousness, and begins to move towards God with the hope of salvation, with the hope of

rising above himself and to begin a new life with God in Christ.

This with the true repentance comes faith, which is a gift of God )(t. **+09208; L&. *:+0*200-, to

fill the void, which true and total repentance has created. The ob?ect of faith is essentially

redemption; repentant man believes in God, who affects salvation in the death2resurrection of

Christ. To believe is to accept the fact of God!s intervention in history for man!s salvation, and

that he has raised Christ in the fullness of the power of salvation which is open to everyone. This

is what the apostles proclaimed+ 4This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate

intention and fore&nowledge of God, you too& and had him crucified my men outside the law.

@ou &illed him, but the Lord raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of deathA..God

raised this man 6esus to life, and all of us are witness to that7. This is the stone re?ected by you

the builders, but which has proved to be the &eystone. "or of all names in the world given to

men, this is the only one by which we can be saved )%cts 0+0/, 01, /0; 1+**2*0-. Those who

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accept this message of salvation proclaimed by the apostles, see& for salvation not in themselves,

in their own self2 sufficiency nor in any other, be he a sage or a prophet, but accept the salvation

which god has effected in the death2resurrection of Christ.

To believe that God has affected man!s salvation in the death2resurrection of Christ, which is

essential for participation in the mystery of salvation, is a real death to self and to the world of

sin. The believer refuses to find his salvation in himself and at God!s proclaimed word he comes

out of himself, out of his own self2sufficient isolation, and believes that he finds his true self and

his salvation by coming to God in Christ. This faith in Christ Bs death2resurrection implies that

the believer dies to his own self2sufficiency with Christ, dies to sin, dies to everything that stands

as an obstacle to God!s saving grace in him; and rises with Christ, for Christ lives. 4Christ, as we

&now having been raised from the dead will never die again. eath has no power over him

anymore. Dhen he died, he died once for all to sin, so his life now is life with God; and in that

way you too must consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive for God in Christ 6esus7 )om

=+2**-.

The believer who shares Christ!s risen life is also free from the dominion of sin and death, the

basic evils of man. eath is not, as it was when he was in the state of sin, the final frustration of

all his human endeavors. The new life, the life of the risen Christ, which is conferred upon the

believer, is proof against death; his life, li&e the life of risen Christ, has a permanent value;

because he is identified with the risen Christ, he can hope for a lasting achievement. 4# am the

resurrection. #f anyone believes in me, even though he dies, he will live, and whoever lives and

believes in me will never die )6n.**+0920=-. $ince the risen Christ is the resurrection and life,

faith in the risen Christ, unites the believer with resurrection and life. 4Eternal life is not proof

against physical death in the sense that the believer does not experience physical death. #t is

proof against death because eternal life has made physical death an incident through which

eternal life enters into its fullness. The believers need not fear the death, nor does death terminate

the genuine life which has been communicated to him7.

Dhat emerges from what we have said so far concerning individual salvation is that the believer

united with 6esus Christ is saved by re2experiencing in himself the saving act+ with 6esus he

empties himself of his own self2sufficiency and dies to his own self and rises to a new life in

6esus. Fow we come to an important question, which introduces the third element in man!s

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salvation. #f man!s salvation is effected in his total repentance and living faith, why do 6esus and

his apostles and his church on earth insist on baptism as an essential requirement of man!s

salvation, man!s incorporation into the salvific mystery of the death ' resurrection of 6esus5 #n

other words, if man!s salvation lies in repentance and faith alone, what room is left for the power

of the sacrament5 The answer, in brief, is that man!s regeneration into Christ is not only an

interior psychological process, which is accomplished by repentance and faith, but is also a

manifest act in the community of those who are regenerated with Christ. "aith alone does not

incorporate the repentant believer in Christ, but faith and baptism do )(&. *=+*=; (t. 0>+*-. "or

it were faith alone which saves man, the salvation of man could be conceived as his own

personal achievement, but now the sacramental ritual, which is demanded by Christ, reminds

man that his salvation is fundamentally the wor& of God. aptism is an ob?ective visible means

by which man!s salvation is affected, and the church, which is the manifest sign on earth of the

enduring presence of God!s saving act in 6esus, is the appointed agent of the baptismal ritual.

Thus, the salvation of the repentant believer in Christ is accomplished in and through the society

of the church.

The Few Testament regards baptism as an initiation rite which is necessary for all who wish to

belong to the community of believers in Christ, to the &ingdom of God inaugurated with the

death2resurrection of Christ. $ymbolically baptism signifies the re2enactment of the saving act of

6esus; by the reception of baptism he who believes in the redemptive power of Christ!s saving act

passes from death to life because of his incorporation into the risen Christ+ hence immersion into

the baptismal water signifies the death and burial, and the coming out of the water symboli<es

the rising with Christ to a new life of holiness with him. 4@ou have been taught that when we

were bapti<ed in Christ 6esus we were bapti<ed into his death; in other words, when we were

bapti<ed we went into the tomb with him and ?oined him in death, so that as Christ was raised

from the dead by the "ather!s glory, we too might live a new life )om =+/21. Col *70, *02*/-.

The early church believed and proclaimed that the recipient of baptism, on account of his participation in Christ!s death2resurrection, passes from his state of sin and death to one of

holiness by sharing in the spirit of the risen Christ, which ma&es the bapti<ed man a child of

God. 4The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the oly $pirit which has been given

to us.7

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4Fow that the time has come we are no longer that guardian, and you are, all of you, sons of God

through faith in 6esus Christ7 )om 9+9; Col /+0920=-. The newly bapti<ed, in the Few

Testament writings, is considered innocent; he emerges without any guilt, and is given a share in

the life of the risen Christ )* Cor. *97*02*-. Thus, man!s salvation is seen in the Christian

scriptures as a wor& of God through Christ, for, it is God alone who can grant total forgiveness of

sin and confer a new life of the risen Christ to the repentant believer who is bapti<ed in Christ.

The personal transformation of the repentant believer in Christ from death to life, because it is

fundamentally the wor& of God in Christ, is a mystery which cannot be seen by the na&ed human

eye. ut the effects of this mysterious transformation can be and must be seen in the daily life of

the Christian. The pivot on which his new life in Christ is structured is love ' love of God and

love of his neighbor. The centrality of love in the life of everyone who begins a new life in Christ

is set forth in the Few Testament with such clarity that no one questions it. 4@ou must love the

Lord and your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This first and

the greatest commandment. The second resembles it+ you must love your neighbor as yourselves;

on these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets also7 )(t. 00+/821:; (&.

*0+02/:; L&. *:+0920>-, 6n. *9+*1; * Cor. */-. %lthough the love of God is called the first

commandment, and the love of one!s neighbor the second, the Few Testament does not conceive

the love mentioned in the two commandments as two loves but as one love, for what is done to

one!s neighbor is done to Christ. 4# tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least

of these brothers of mine you did it to me )(t. 09+1:, L&. *:+*=; %cts +9-. 6ohn observes that

one!s love of can be proved only by his love of his neighbor. 4%nyone who says, B# love God!,

and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man, who does not love the brother that he can see, cannot

love God whom he has never seen. $o this is the commandment that he has given us that anyone

who loves God must also love his brother )* 6n. 1+0:20*-. 3aul says that all commandments are

summed up in the commandment to love one!s neighbor )om */+>2*:-. # give you a new

commandment+ love one another; ?ust as # have loved you, you also must love one another. ythis love you have for one another, everyone will &now that you are my disciples7 )6n. */+/12/9-.

#t the love of neighbor carries the Christian as far as 6esus! sure of the final victory over sin and

death, which are his basic evils which are 4swallowed up in the victory7 by the resurrection of

6esus Christ, his savior.

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