Quests for salvation in New Testament times

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QUESTS FOR SALVATION IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OP THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

DEPARTMENT OF NEW TESTAMENT IN THE GRADUATE DIVINITY SCHOOL

Introduction

Many attempts have been made to present the salvation beliefs of the New Testament or of its individual writers through the medium of New Tesl^ament theologies or treatises dealing with the teachings of selected authors. The prevailing tendency, sometimes contrary to the expectations and desires of the investigators, has been to isolate the material under consideration or lat least to relate it to its total environment only under stress of necessity. The assumption seems to hjave been that sufficient data were available to enable one to reconstruct in terms of modern thought, or at least in terms intelligible to the present day, the doctrine used by the individual in question, on the basis of its being a more or less closed system evolved las such chiefly in the mind and experience of the one leader. Hence it was natural to seek to show thiat the teachings were logically consistent. Starting with such assumptions as these and actuated by a desire to use or test the results as normative, as correct, as authoritatve, theologians (have not found it impossible to discover consistent, well-wrought systemjs of doctrine. But unfortun^a'tely there is a likelihood of gai>s being bridged by the introduction of subjective data, in proportion as there is present an apologetic interest or a desire to establish a norm to which the ancient author corresponds, if indeed the norm is not found within his authoritative utterances.

The method adopted in this study is intended to obviate some of the difficulties which repeatedly arise in the practice of starting with the material to be investigated as in any way selfexplanatory. That is, the subject of New Testament soteriology can not be studied adequately by starting with the New Testament records as containing /a, closed system capable of being interpreted in the light of their own statements. What is seen is a (jncst for salvntion that, was .socially conditioned, and it becomes necessary to determine what those conditions w^ere and the use made of them in furthering the quest. That solutions of the problem of salvation in the form of systems of thoug-ht were often offered by early Christians, is (at once obvious. They are, however, most intelligible as the creation, generally temporary and immediate, of earnest seekers after salvation, creations mjade in response to social stimuli, out of such religious interpretations as were at hand. Thus Paul, who has very frequently been credited with having given a doctrine of salvation more or less consistent, must be studied 'as the leading representative of a group of Christians who came out of primitive Christianity into contact with the new stimuli in the Gentile world, and sought to interpret the religious thought which they already possessed in such a wjay as to satisfy those new needs of their Hellenistic experience. To accomplisih this task of interpreting early Christian "Theologies" it is also necessary to study the faiths of the Graeco-K/oman world in the same light, as quests for salvation.

These considerations at once suggest the main outline of this study as it appears in the chapter headings. The first task is to s/how the intimate relation existing betw^een the religious beliefs of a people and the social conditions which limit their life, in this case, with particular reference to all those experiences which are capable of being interpreted in terms of salvation. Hebrew \and' Jewisih beliefs, as the source from \^^ich Christianity dreAV its first strength, are, Very properly, the next subject of enquiry. The Graeco-Koman quests for salvation should be investigated with no presuppositions as to the degree, if any, to which they affected Christianity. The fact that such a rtesult was possible is sufficient warrant for studying them. Christianity^ itself, as a quest, or a series of quests, after s»a.lvation, ought to be interpreted as disinterestedly as the other movements with which it was at least geographically and chronologically associated. The further question remains of determining the nature of the relationship, if any, which existed between Christianity and the other religions, as quests for salvation. Certain possibilities must be kept in mind in this connection. (1) Genetic relationsliip miay be established as having existed at a givten time between Christianity and other religious cults, as for instance between Christianity and Judaism or the mystery religions. (2) Also there mjay hjaive been a functional similarity which gave rise to a certain outward correspondence between the different religious movements, but without genetic relationships. As an illustration attention may he called to the fact that separate attempts to solve the problem of the future life were made by groups which were not dependent upon each other for stimulus, and yet the solutions outwardly suggest common origin. And (3) as a final lalternative, there arises the probability that neither one nor the other of the above named interpretations can be posited as having been present to the exclusion of the other for any considerable period of time.

Table Of Contents

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Introduction 7

Chapter

Chapter I. The Basts Of Salvation Beliefs

Salvation, as a definite doctrine and as a general idea, lias many forms. Tbe wide use of the word ' ' salvation ' or its equivalents in the various languages, shows to some extent the universality of the idea therein expressed. But the use of fixed terms, however important it may seem, is quite inadequafe to interpret the real thought of jai people. An understanding of the social forces which mold the thought-forms and of the responses which men m^ake to them, is essential to an appreciation of the content and bearing of the salvation belief, as in the case of any other.

Salvation, as the commonly accepted doctrine of institutionalized Christianity, miarks the narrower application of the term "sialvation" as well as of the idea. Dogmatic interests tend to give it an exclusiveness which is hostile to a scientific understanding of its growth and function. This doctrine of salvation is indeed accompanied by Christological speculations and does not in any case receive primary recognition in comparison with the metaphysical treatment of the person of Christ. The history of Christian belief as recorded in personal statements of faith and in the creeds of different periods and communities, not to mention the theologies of miodern writers, reveals the characteristic tendency to center interest in the person of the savior rather than in the process of salvation. Yet salvation, as (a function of the metaphysical Christ, is always necessary to a complete picture. The reason for such prominence of a savior must be carlefuUy considered, and its antecedents psychologically reconstructed, in view of the possibility that the motivating impulse is after all, an interest in salvation rather than in lai savior.

If one should study even casually the outstanding Christian theories of salv-ation, h'e would discover a close connection between them and the social theories which lie behind all the major institutions. For instance, the system of Anselm, which does not claim dependence upon Scriptural authority, is clearly a reflection of current feudalism in the midst of a theologian's speculation. Man is simply a religicized vassal, and God a transcendentalized liegelord.^ Even in the case of those systems which assume conformity to revealed patterns a similar correspondence is easily detected.

Recognition of the interrelation of doctrine and social interest is of supreme importance in the analysis of any religious pftienomenon. Religion has already been subjected to the discipline of social psychology, though for the most part outside the field of historical religion. The correspondence of a deity to certain values which hjave been socially determined by the group which worships the deity, or by a different group which has transmitted its god, has become an established and undisputed conclusion in the study of the history of religion. Similarly the rites and practic^es oi' a group are expressions of a socijail interest which at some time was strong enough to produce a permanent crystallization of its moods and emotions.- The unconscious impulses Which result in the building up of a god-idea are dependent upon the values which have not yet been fully attained by the group. Thus antecedent to the final picture of the god, there is found the germ of the salvation-idea which later receives further elaboration in connection with the developed theogony.^ The interest of the group in counection with the values socially discovered, is the beginning of the salvation-idcfai ; while the God, functioning las savior, is its consummation.

The inference to be drawn from the foregoing paragraphs is simply that the traditional doctrine of salvation has an historic (aind psychological genesis in primitive man's realization of his own inability to secure for himself the objects of his interest and need. The salvation idea in some form is for this reason present in religion at all times, barring, possibly, a few individual exceptions.

The recognition of salvation lajs a ^\ddely prevalent social interest tends to introduce clarity into the apparently disparate elements of religion. There is one constant factor which runs throughout the range of formis, na^mely, the desire and effort for betterment of condition. The systemiS which ai'e evolved in response to the promptings of the soci^al interests answer three fundamental questions : Prom what are men to be saVed ? to what? and how? There are two opposite poles which mark the boundaries of the conception, the w*hence and the wOiither; between these stretch the paths of progress, some one of which each person or group tries to follow, according to the selection of his own will, or that of his group. Only so long as there is movement from the worse to the better, is there salvation. Viewed in this light, salvation hopes stand somewhere between abject pessimism on the one hand, and uncritical optimism on the other, if such extremes be actually possible in human experience. And, being a type of thought which has as one of its indispensable elements a belief in progress, it is capable of being applied to a wide range of situ'ations. It is by very nature possessed of flexibility.

Primarily the different types of salvation hopes are concerned with a present solution of present ills ; but as the mystery of the immediate ifxiture becomes more uncertain by reason of despair, the eventful day of salvation is set far ahead in time and entrusted to divine guidance apart from any significant human effort. Though salvation, thus broadly interpeted, always possesses the basic principle of progress from worse to better, ithe forms in w'hich it me'ets our attention in actual religious employment are by no means few or simple. No attempt is here made to give an exhaustive or even scientifically accurate classifictation of the variant types of salvation beliefs. But it is believed that the following suggestions m^ay, at the outset, indicate the certainty that each group's hope for salvation is always in the mind of the believers a practical and urgent affair.*

One of the crises which primitive man confronted was some disruption of nature v^hich threatened his physical existance. Thus certain groups whose agricultural products depended upon seasonable rains, feared the drought of the growing season. Or another group sought to keep away the flood by appealing to the sun to show himself. Certain habits of nature became bound up with human welfare, latnd hence man sought immunity from such dangers as famine, flood and pestilence, by appealing to those forces which, in his mind, were more beni^. The process by which he sought to effect this end w^s in his life part of a kind of nature salvation.^ The inter*est in nature salvation was greatly diversified. It was easily turned into crude materialism, in w^hich poverty and prosperity stood in opposition. Religious meaning was not necessarily absent how-ever.« Sickness, as a result of nature's breakdown was also a thing from which men wished to be saved.''

An isfoljaited group would be likely for a long tim'e to evolve no important interest beyond that which centers about food, shelter, and propagation. But w^hen opposing groups begin to contend for the same resources, the life of each is threatened from a new angle. A different type o'f salvation results, which may be called national salvation.^

The brela/king down of political aspirations through one reason or another and the imposition -of social distinctions within the group tended to divert the collective hope for national salvation into class and individual channels. Thus there is seen a desire to be freed from the handicaps of class position, such as the philosopher-slave experienced in view of his intellectual -elevation and his social degradation, or the longing for cultural emancipation as an escape from superstition and ignorance which w^ere the barriers of advancement.^

Human destiny often comes to be thought of as dependent upon ethical conduct. National or individual misfortune is interpreted as the penalty of wrong doing. As a result some sort of ethical salvation becomes essential. On the one hand, deliverance is to be effected hj some redeemer, whose service, variously interpreted, stands the needy sinner in good stead. Such thought is to be found in much of the Jewish belief, in Christianity, and in the Graeco-Roman mysteries, not to mention religions less prominent in history. Or on the other hand, the sinning person or persons are exhorted to utilize the latent powers Avithiu them :aind rise above the shortcomings of their previous life. This moral urgency was particularly characteristic of the evangelistic philosophies of Greece and Rome. The problem of ethics, which was later in development than nature and national salvation, as far as distinctly formulated interests are concerned, became yqyj prominent and has remained so, simplj^ because the integrity of modem society' is urdversally recognized as depending quite largely upon conduct within the group.

In the earlier stages of Jewish social life ethical corruption was not the sole thing from which m'en wished to be saved. The national hope w)a(s very prominent, and the threatening armies of the enemy were thought of as Jehovah 's agencies for the purging of Israel 's sins. Yet even Israel 's sins were often more antinational than immoral, in that wrong was conceived lo'f as the abandonment of the (alccustomed worship for participation in the rites of the stranger.

What is true of the Jewish people is largely true of all groups. Misfortune can often be explained only on the basis of a violation of some rule of conduct. As personal or group misfortune becomes less prominent, conduct comes to have more value in itself, and salvation comes to be, not so much salvation from impending d(anger by means of ethics, as salvation from a sinful state itself.

The ancient explanation of phenomena as the action of spirit powers more or less patterned after human traits, was responsible for one of the most persistent and wide-spread forms of the salvation idea, — salvation from demons. Inste^ld of misfortune being explained by wrong-conduct on the part of the individual, it was interpreted as a consequence of some spirit's work. Wrong conduct itself was thought of as incited by a demon, as in the gospel explanation of Judas' treachery (Jno. 13:2, 27; Lk. 22:3). It is not necessiary to cite here the innumerable instances in which ill health was attributed to the presence and activity of demons. Healing practices were restored to for securing release from them. The gospels contain allusions to demented persons whose disabilities were removed by the employment of exorcism. Naturally enough there could not fail to be a desire to effect salvation from the power of demons whatever their taction might be. Over against this idea of misfortune, ill health, and wrong conduct las being caused by evil demons, must be set the conception of opposing good demons and a salvation wrought by a counteracting force of a similar nature, as is to be inferred from Matthew 12:43-45 where the evil spirit is represented as finding a haven in his former abode, which was indeed swept and garnished, but not inhabited by a good demon to prevent his return.^^

The foregoing types of salvation thought, especially in their simpler and unmixed forms, are characteristic of a healthy and natural attitude toward the world of human experience. The anxiety and concern which are felt are by no means unfavorable judcrments passed upon the world. Yet circumstances do arise in human life which produce despair as far as a present remedy is concerned ; and this dispair turns to hope only by faith in a future world subject to an entirely different kind of control. Thus lai belief in other worldly salvation appears. Unfortunately, as the modem mind sees it, this type of redemption hope has been predominant at almost all periods of civilized history, in spite of the inter-mingling of ethical and group salvation. The pessimistic welt-anschauung of the disorganized Graeco-Roman period was taken over by the Roman church, and there was augmented and stabalized. It is this other worldly salvation that has become known ais the traditional doctrine of salvation. Like all kindred hopes, it is based upon unfavorable judgment of this world and its value. It adds pessimism to anxiety as regards this world and elaborates its theory of future management of destinies to give assurance for what cannot now be hoped for.

Future salvation, like present salvation, is not of one simple form. Among the Jews, the abandonment of the ideal of a nation made safe by the power of armies was accompanied by an increasing interest in apocalyptic manifestations as a means of group salvation. Concerted action on the part of men, how^^ever stimulating it had been, yielded to a more pessimistic but yet equally hopeful dependence upon God-given help. The kingdom of Heaven which John the Baptist preached w^as to usher in the divine control by which the truly righteous w^ould be saved, while the wicked who rebelled against God and his people would be lost. The early Christians appropriated this conception and identified the exalted Jesus with the angelic agent of God who was to usher in the kingdom. The var^^ing feeling of group solidarity and isolation Avas registered in the changing and shifting emphasis placed on the kingdom as separate and distinct from the existing world order. The belief in an apocalyptic salvation followed the lines suggested by this emphasis.

The rise of individualism at various times and places served to introduce an interest in personal salvation in the place of a hope for an apocalyptic kingdom. This interest in many instances retained apocalyptic imiagery, but it was nevertlieless quite different in other respects. Instead of the group to be saved as a group, there was the individual ; and the real individual was either the soul as distinct from the body, as generally in the gentile religions, or body and soul |as among the Jews, in which case the resurrection of the physical body and its endowment with immortality constituted the major part of the hope of salvation. In early Christianity both phases of individualistic salvation were present depending |at first largely upon the predominance of Jewish or Gentile background, and later upon distinctly Christian interests growing out of the movement itself.

Salvation, on its formal side, is likely to be of a mixed character, due to the composite nature of the social structure itself. Several kinds oif interests are easily carried on side by side. Political and ethical salvation, for instance, were easily blended by the J ews. Similarly salvation from demons might have equal prominence with some sort of future salvation. Such a situation is to be assumed as a theoretical probability drawn from the nature of human society. It only remains to he tested at various points and elaborated for further clearness.

It is fairly axiomatic that the stimuli which arouse the desire for this or that kind of salvation are to be found in the group or individual experiences which at any particular time present acute difficulties. Similarly the solutions, as far as external forms are concerned, are in some large measure predetermined by these same stimuli. There can be, therefore, no one form of salvation belief for all ages, in as much as problems are continually shifting. On the other hand, the limit of variation is set by the comparative uniformity of human interests as they are linked up with the basic instincts of life.

Aside from the divergence suggested by local and temporal differences in the social situation, the theory of salviation varies to a marked degree according to the technique adopted for securing the desired end. Wundt's theory of the rise of monotheism is instructive at this point.^- He maintains that there are two sources for the monotheistic idea, viz., (1) the daimon-magic concept, and (2) the reverence paid to the hero. In the case of the former, there is thought to be a quality or power resident in an object, which may have a direct influence upon a person, or upon which a person may have influence. This view finally eventuates in science which deals with the understanding and control of material forces, in metaphysical philosophy w-hich attempts to give a constructive theory of the universe on the basis of "essence", and in the religious and theological belief that salvation may be secured through contact with divine substance (in which the power resides), or through union with the god himself, as in the mystery religions. Reverence paid to the hero, on the other hand, is not based on a theory of essence, but upon relations expressed toward a per>son, who, when favorably disposed may grant the thing desired by the suppliant. This attitude results in an ethical monotheism as over against ontological monotheism. Historically these theories are blended in various proportions, though they are by no means logically consistent.

But behind this distinction between ideas of god, there is the more fundamental idea of a result to be secured for the benefit of the worshipper. Hence on the one hiand, there arose beliefs in the evil nature of man and the pure nature of deity, and in salvation by means of the purifying magical contact of godsubstance with man-substance. The debates about the nature of Christ find a natural setting in this point of view. The savior was not thought to have saving power apart from his nature. And again, in those instances in which deity was thought of as a person susceptible to the influence of conduct, an elaborate theory of behavior arose to instruet the believer in the proper way of securing the good-w^ill of his god. Ethics is to be connected with religion primarily through the desire for salvation.

Illustration of these two methods of salvation may be seen in the Jewish religion, and in the mystery cults of Graeco-Roman life. Jehovah as a hero-god was kind to his faithful followers and meted out justice to others. He was pleased by just such acts as pleased a king. Obedience to God lamd justice toward man assumed great prominence in the ethical scheme.^^ On the other hand, in the case of the mystery religions, there was, at least at the earliest discernible period, no interest in the ethicial nature of the deity or in the kind of conduct that w^ould please him, only in the redeeming power which was in his very essence and which might be made use of by the direct tnaaisference of power through contact or identification with that renovating being, or by tlie sympathetic m^agic of imitative rites and ceremonies.

Historical Christianity, since the time of Paul, seems to present la mixture of these two methods of graining salvation. The prominence of the S'acraments, the conciliar decisions on the nature of Christ laind the cruder ideas of the powder of relics, attest the vitality of the belief in pure versus impure substances and the redemption of the individual through getting in touch with the pure and avoiding the impure.

While considering sialvation from the standpoint suggested above, recognition should be given to those categories which conveniently illustrate other aspects of this idea. In the first place, variations of the salvation interest may be thought of in terms of the source of power. One would then spelak of salvation through the agency of a redeemer god, or salvation by the attainment of the individual. The first type includes such forms of religion as freely express la sense of personal inability to gain security and satisfaction. Historically speaking, most religions ar'e of this character, (a^nd even a claim of self initiative is often offset by the logic of redemption which is incorporated. Those faiths which do assert mlan's inherent power are reflections of an attitude on the part of man to express confidence in his own strength and ability to extricate himself from the difficulties in which he finds himself. In the second place, salvation interests center about that wlhich is to be waived, — the group, the individual, or the soul. As in the case of any other classification of salvation interests, a clear line of deimarcation cannot here be maintained except along arbitrarily selected boundaries. It is hardly necessary to remind ourselves that the way in which a hope is expressed is determined by the immediate social interest and not by an impulse to classify logically.

It has seemed best to emphasize here the description of salvation ideas in conformity with the social interest and structure, wihich, on the one hand, gave the impetus toward seeking a solution, and, on the other, provided the pattern which suggested the form which the solution should take. The imethods used in glalining salvation, viz., through essence or through ethics as discussed above should also be held prominently in. view. Other distinctions between types of salvation theories may be of great value in specific instances, but can hardly outweigh for general consideration of the topic, the ones which have just been stated. Primitive life, both as known to us historically and as present in ^^roups which have not yet been greatly influenced by advaneed culture, has been repeatedly studied from the standpoint of social psychology. In fact the technique of that branch of scientific study owes muoh to this material which has been the source of such fruitful study. But recorded history for one reason or another has not been so freely interpreted. In the field of historic Christianity, serious hindrances in the form of standards of orthodoxy hjave been present to check the development of an adequate understanding of the social and psychological forces which were operative at all times. As the obstacles to such a study are removed and as the development of technique becomes sufficiently advanced, the psychology of religion ought to be greatly enriched by illustrative /and corrective data furnished by the history of Christianity.

In dealing with the specific question of early Christian ideas of salvation, it is necessary to bear in mind the general features of the period which, by reason of their nature, would be expected to contribute some definiteness to the various beliefs.^^ Perhaps the most adequate descriptive term ifor the life of Graeoo-Roman society is the simple word — chaos. The resources of the world were opening up faster than they could be organized. After the time of Alexander the Great governmental control was continually shifting from one center to another, and was always called in question by no small number of those who were theoretically under its dominjaition. The Antigonids, the Seleucids, and the Ptolemies struggled to establish their supremacy by the aid of various alliances. Their exhaustion made necessary the calling in of a new power, as arbiter of disputes. Gradually Rome became ambitious to fulfil the dreams of Alexander by the establishment of ;ai great world-wide empire. But even when this project was well under way there was still a dharacteristic condition of disorder.

This political situation was paralleled everjy-^vhere in other phases of life. In large measure it was responsible for the economic, social, cultural, and religious uncertainty of the time. The removal o'f shiarp national boundaries stimulated the intercourse of free commerce and the migration of workmen and tradespeople from one place to another. Military expeditions shifted great numbers of people as colonial settlers, as police forces for the purpose of maintaining order, and as slaves who were brought back to Rome and other centers. A business man of the provinces, a craftsimjan, a philosopher, or a poet, might find himself suddenly transported from his native city to the capital, there to grace according to his rank the triumphal return of a conquering general and to contribute his part in maintaining the position of his captor. On the other hand the outlying posts of Roman official control had a great deal to do with reshaping the ideals of barbarian peoples. This inter-mixture of peoples could not be without effect, for with it went a mingling of religions, philosophies, economic theories and practices, as well as other features of group life. During the period of instability a great deal of dissatisflaiction arose. Juvenal and Martial, among Roman writers, reflect the logical pessimism resulting from the free and uncontrolled inter-mingling of all the ethics and individual elements within the boundaries of the known world.

But it is not a trait of human nature to acquiesce in sucih a condition of life. Hence, it occasions no surprise to meet with an intense longing everywhere for release from chaotic limitations of life. As la result oif this longing, men turned in every direction for relief, turning sometimes to the methods of earlier peoples, and again taxing their ingenuity in an effort to construct new plans.

Thus as a correlative to this impatience with uncertainty and chaos, there was present a tendency to organize all unrelated elements into a unified whole. This is the natural reaction which would be looked for under such circumstances. The creation and development of the Roman Empire was the first outstanding adjustment in the midst of disorder. Its establishment was the expression of a social consciousness which had at last become aware of a power of mastery. It would not be strange, on a priori grounds, to find all phases of group thought and life colored by the same kind of feeling.