Salvation

When we realize that we’re sinners--a weakness derived from the original sin of our protoparents, Adam and Eve--and that we’re not good enough to meet God’s standards, and realize how helpless we are on our own, we are given the choice to be lifted out of that bondage or to remain in it. This is a choice ultimately of accepting or rejecting the redemption that is available to us only through Christ’s sacrificial death for us (see Rom 3:21-26). In the oft-quoted words of John 3:16 (emphasis mine), “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.” That requirement of believing in Christ means claiming him as our Savior (Jesus means “God who saves”) as well as our Lord--the One to whom we agree to submit our whole lives in service and in imitation of him.

When we take this basic step into Christianity irrevocably, God sees us, not as the sinful humans that we are, but as clothed in Christ’s goodness! Then, along with Jesus, God’s Son, we can know that we are truly children of God with him (see Jn 1:12) and can trust him to be with us always (see Mt 28:20). The bedrock of all forms of trust in God is total acceptance of the gift of divine redemption--the basic Christian truth that Jesus died to save us. All other forms of trust are included in that basic one.

However, this dynamic implies a giving and a receiving: the giving or causative act (on Jesus’ part) is called redemption; the other side of the coin (the receiving or acceptance of that gift on our part) is called salvation. Thus, to trust Jesus as our Redeemer is to trust that we will be saved. Notice that trust in Jesus as Redeemer is person-focused, while trust that we will be saved is doctrine-focused. The highest expression of all trust is Jesus-focused. Hence, the most encompassing act of trust that we can exercise is articulated in that popular but exquisitely simple prayer, “Jesus, I trust in you!”

This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.