Gospel Question, Salvation=Freedom?

I'm asking this question out of curiosity and to gather some insight from readers out there...

Based on several teachings of Jesus, the goal (or a goal) of the Messiah was to save people, in the sense of rescuing them from something and bringing them to a state of spiritual freedom and release from captivity.

Does "salvation" bring "freedom" ?

What is the kingdom of heaven like? Which metaphor describes it?

Is it a tower reaching to God?  Is it built out of man-made bricks like:

• Believing the right things to please God
• Doing the right things to please God
• Worship services, where believers look to the stage or vaulted domes to see God
• Defending the cause of God's righteousness for him by criticizing sinners
• Building a membership of those that behave a certain way to build God's kingdom

The Tower of Babel.  Are we repeating a classic mistake when we bring our offerings to God to build his kingdom?

Or is it a blossoming tree springing out from the source, the trunk, which is God himself, with branches like:

• God's truth, revealed by the Holy Spirit
• God's goodness, reflected in the lives of those that follow him
• Communities of believers that look to each other to see how they can nourish each other, as extensions of the arms of God
• Defending the cause of the powerless by fighting injustice
• Inviting and welcoming a collection of people who bring differences, variety, talents and ideas into God's kingdom

The Inverted Tower: the branches springing out from the source.  Are we building the same kingdom that God is?

Are WE building God's kingdom for him, out of man-made stuff?  Or is God building the kingdom out of his own passion for humankind?  Who is this kingdom for anyway, for God?  Or, for us? Is it God's gift to man, or man's gift to God?  


Something to consider, because if we think the kingdom is the tower, made by man, for God, we are probably building it upside down.


by Brad Duncan

Did God Die For Himself?

No, he died for us -- the world.

To follow in his footsteps, should we die for God? Should we sacrifice ourselves on the altar to please or appease God?

Or should we sacrifice ourselves for the world? Should we give and give until the world is changed by our generosity?

Some theories of atonement say that God had to die because God required it.

But I say that God died for us, not for himself. It was a message. It was a world-changer. It was the ultimate in sacrificial creativity. It showed us the way. It showed us God's nature. Let's follow him on the road he paved, and care about our humanity the way that he does, enough to die for.

The Road to Freedom

What nailed Jesus on the cross? Injustice. Oppression. Prejudice. Judgment. Hate. Religion.

What did Jesus represent? Human Justice. Freedom. Acceptance. Grace. Compassion. Kindness.

So, Judgment tried to kill Acceptance, and Religion tried to kill Kindness. But Acceptance and Kindness won in the end!

The Ubiquitous Other

by Brad Duncan

Pure, unstained religion, according to God our Father, is to take care of orphans and widows when they suffer and to remain uncorrupted by this world. (James 1:27, God’s Word)

There is a group of people that have a background role in the gospels and epistles, a group of people we can call "the ubiquitous other."  They are everywhere.  They are the common man.  

They are the widows and orphans.  They are the brother or sister that is naked or hungry.  They are the least of these.  They are the world.  They are the context in which we live our lives.  

The ubiquitous other, according to the book of James, is the recipient of the kindness of believers showing the true colors of their faith, and showing pure unstained religion.

The ubiquitous other, in Matthew 25:31-46 (the parable of the sheep and goats), is the "least of these", the seemingly unimportant, the hungry, thirsty, homeless and naked. They are background to Jesus's parable about how having faith is pretty much meaningless if it doesn't cause us to care when we see someone in need.

The ubiquitous other also appears in the beatitudes. He/she is the poor, the hungry, the crying, the oppressed. The poetic imagery in the beatitudes describes both a physical and a spiritual need, describing those that need compassion from us and those that are aware of their spiritual poverty and need for God.

In the Lord’s prayer the ubiquitous other is behind the scenes.  The other should be forgiven.  He/she should receive daily bread.  As God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the other should see God's kingdom. He/she should experience compassion as believers help to fulfill God's desire to bring daily bread to the entire world.  God doesn't work solo!  Where's the daily bread going to come from?

The ubiquitous other is the ever-present object in I Corinthians 13, the treatise on love (charity, unconditional love) written by Paul.  To love requires an object of love. Who should believers love? Who does God love?  The recipient is once again the seemingly unimportant, the undeserving, the one needing love, the one of unknown faith. If the love in I Corinthians 13 is reserved for the lovely, its significance is reduced. When applied to the ubiquitous other, this type of love is unconditional and beautiful.  It defines the life of transformed believers.

In the most famous passage in scripture, John 3:16, the concept of the needy other is represented with the word “the world”. God loved “the world”, mankind, who is desperately in need of God’s love. God loved and loves those that love him back as well as those that do not. He shines his light equally on the good and evil.  He loves us actively and preemptively (loving us first, before we have any chance to deserve it).  Our faith, our understanding of God, is possible because of this love.  

In Luke 4, the quotation from Isaiah 61 reveals the ubiquitous other as a captive needing liberation, as a poor or blind person needing the Messiah to rescue him. The ministry of Jesus starting in Luke 4 was an active demonstration of this role of the Messiah, and he healed countless needy people, forgiving their sins, and proclaiming that he was there to bring them the good news from God.  The ubiquitous other was the context of his ministry, forming the crowds that gathered around him.

Did these poor and needy recipients of the favor of Jesus have a measure of faith that merited this favor? Did they do good works that deserved reward? Did Jesus always and only heal those that had sufficient faith? Actually, the faith of the crowds of people is not mentioned as a positive attribute. In Luke 7, Jesus says to the crowd that a Roman centurion has more faith than he has found “in all of Israel.” Certainly Jesus did not base his outpouring of love and acts of liberation on the faith of the needy in Israel.

Finally, who are the “others” that are the recipients of love in the Greatest Commandment to 

"love God, love others" (Matthew 22:36-40, Luke 10:25-37)? Jesus says to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  He demonstrates this concept in the parable of the good Samaritan.

And who are the recipients of the good news in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20)?  The people who will be found throughout the world that will hear the good news, be baptized and become disciples?

The ubiquitous other. The one who needs God. The one who receives love from believers, the one who hears the good news. As the angels declared, in Luke 2:10, this good news is “wonderful, joyous news for all people.” All people, lovely and unlovely. Those with great needs.  Those with great potential.  In other words, all of us.

Giveus Us Free

How do needy people, the people of all the world, receive the compassion of God?  Must they earn this compassion with either faith or works?  


What we see in the gospel is a God who IS by his very being, compassion itself.  


What we see is the example of Christ who demonstrated God’s compassion to the needy.  

"Giveus Us Free" -- Amistad

We see very little from Christ pointing toward requirements.  


Instead we see an image of a liberator, declared in the Old Testament prophets, who came with the keys of freedom.  


“Be Free” he says, and “Follow Me.”  


Receive the compassion of God.  


Imitate the compassion of God by loving him and by loving others.  


Take the keys of freedom to the entire world.

The Lord's Prayer of Freedom

by Brad Duncan

How does the Lord's prayer bring freedom?

• Our Father in heaven, let your name be kept holy.  Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven:
• The kingdom has come to Earth, so that God’s will can be done here and not just in heaven.  God’s will?  That we love others and love him, in a contagious way that spreads to all the world. 
• This spreading of love will unleash kindness on the world.  Contagious love is the best way to liberate people from selfishness and from the pain caused by others
• Give us our daily bread today.
• God will be our provider, rescuing us from physical need and suffering.  Note that this is not absolute, in that praying this prayer does not end human hunger.  What does this mean?  God is working to provide for the needy, and he is building his kingdom of compassion that can spread his good work. We must complete the work to provide for the needy. And God is always working to provide for his children.
• More broadly speaking, God meets our needs when we depend on him. Depending on God liberates us from the cycle of selfish greed, allowing us to make unselfish choices.
• Forgive us as we forgive others.
• God liberates us from the pain caused by the sin of others, especially the darkness in our hearts that comes from a lack of forgiveness.  
• God liberates us from the pain caused by our own sins.  Forgiveness is spiritual liberation.  We are free to live, in spite of our sin and human tendency toward selfishness.
• Don’t allow us to be tempted.
• God liberates us from spiritual failure, helping us to avoid traps and hazards that would lead us to fall into selfishness again.
• Instead, rescue us from the evil one.
• God liberates us from the deceiver and all his evil intent!  Clearly in this line, God is named specifically as the rescuer.

(Matthew 6:9-13, God's Word)


When you hear or pray the Lord's prayer, I pray that you will receive freedom. Freedom from anything that binds you, that holds you back from your true potential. Freedom from the cycle of selfish greed, freedom from need and want. Freedom to live, freedom to enjoy, freedom to give, freedom to explore compassion and unselfishness. May God's will be done in an ever expanding way through your life and the lives of those you will touch. Amen.

a question for the current generation of Christians

Does salvation come through either faith or works, where God is passive and provides it to those that meet a standard of faith and/or works, but where God is active to condemn those that fail to do so?

Is it possible that instead, salvation comes from an active God who rescues us and gives us life, but where God is passive in that he allows us to condemn ourselves if we choose to do so. 

16God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.17God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. 18Those who believe in him won’t be condemned. But those who don’t believe are already condemned because they don’t believe in God’s only Son.

19This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil. 20People who do what is wrong hate the light and don’t come to the light. They don’t want their actions to be exposed. 21But people who do what is true come to the light so that the things they do for God may be clearly seen. (John 3, God’s Word).

What do you think? Are we saved by faith and/or works?  Or are we saved by God's love?

What do you think? If we are condemned, is it that we have chosen a life where we don't want our actions to be exposed because they are selfish, maybe even evil?  Or is it that God actively condemns us for our lack of faith and/or works?

The going theory: God is active to condemn, passive to save. The proposed theory: God is active to save, passive to condemn.

Any thoughts from the blogosphere?