What does it mean that Jesus saved us?

[FrancisD]

Kind of a very basic question but something I never quite understood.

Everyone says that Jesus is our savior and he saved us. But really, if we desire to be saved, we have to repent and receive Baptism/go to confession and whenever we fall into state of mortal sin, repent and confess again (by the grace of God of course).

This is not much different from the Jewish practice of repenting and offering sacrifices for forgiveness of sins in that in both scenarios, by the grace of God, we are moved to repentence and action (offering sacrifice or going to confession).

People say Jesus saved us from death or Jesus saved us from sin but even before Jesus, people who followed YHWH could have had their sins forgiven through repentence.

So what does it mean?

 

[PaulinePresbytr]

The believer before Jesus were saved by him as well, because they had faith into the messiah to come. Jesus took up the sins of the world as the penalty of sin is death, and died for all who trust him and allow him to take up their burden by repenting of their sins. If it were not for Christ we would be dying for our own sins, and unlike Christ we would not be raised again on the third day but rather suffer in hellfire for eternity for them. Christ takes that penalty away from us!

 

[Regina_Love]

Having entered into mortal sin, It is right & just that we should be damned to Hell forever. Jesus was the sacrifice who died for our sins, so we don’t have to. He forgives us our sins! Bamb! They are gone! He saved us from eternal damnation… He opened the gates of Heaven. He made it possible for us to go to Heaven!

I understood that the Jewish sacrafice of animals to be a covering of our sins. Like they are still there, but covered so they are not in God’s face.

 

[JerryZ]

Kind of a very basic question but something I never quite understood.

Everyone says that Jesus is our savior and he saved us. But really, if we desire to be saved, we have to repent and receive Baptism/go to confession and whenever we fall into state of mortal sin, repent and confess again (by the grace of God of course).

This is not much different from the Jewish practice of repenting and offering sacrifices for forgiveness of sins in that in both scenarios, by the grace of God, we are moved to repentence and action (offering sacrifice or going to confession).

People say Jesus saved us from death or Jesus saved us from sin but even before Jesus, people who followed YHWH could have had their sins forgiven through repentence.

So what does it mean?

Jesus saved us from being separated from God for Eternity due us for the Original sin of our ancestors.
Without Him we could not be reconciled to God and be able to return to Him.
Nothing more nothing less, which is a pretty big deal on my book.
To put it more bluntly He paid the price that needed to be payed for the transgression of Adam and Eve, so if they would have been forced to pay I would not be here.
So I also thank Him as he did decide to take their place and allow me to become alive.

 

[mommy_k]

Jesus opened the gates of heaven for us through His sacrifice.

 

[fhansen]

Even as we go through the motions of life, generally behaving as if we know what we’re doing and why, the truth is that we haven’t got a clue where, if anywhere, we came from, what, if anything, we’re meant to do here, and where, if anywhere, we’re going. That pretty well defines the condition of being lost.

Man was made to know God, to “walk” with Him, to commune with Him. Our very integrity depends on it. The Fall resulted in a separation from Him, because it was essentially a rejection of His authority, and consequently, of His godhood, and this, at the same time, created a division with ourselves. This separation, and even the rejection, of God, is a condition we’re born into. We’re born without even faith in Him, let alone communion with Him, let alone love for Him, which would constitute the ultimate justice of man. And all of this constitutes a great injustice, or disorder, in the universe.

And this is what Jesus came to rectify. By the Incarnation and Atonement Jesus proves in no uncertain terms God’s existence, His power, His, amazingly, humility, His trustworthiness, His unconditional, boundless love, even loving man as He was humiliated, tortured, and crucified, as He allowed sin to pour out all of it’s unjustified anger and wrath on Him, onto perfect Innocence. He convicts us of sin while simultaneously showing His forgiveness of it. The purpose is to produce-to restore, actually- faith in God so we can begin to find our way back home again, finally to come to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Then we’re home, truly “found” again.

 

[FrancisD]

The believer before Jesus were saved by him as well, because they had faith into the messiah to come. Jesus took up the sins of the world as the penalty of sin is death, and died for all who trust him and allow him to take up their burden by repenting of their sins. If it were not for Christ we would be dying for our own sins, and unlike Christ we would not be raised again on the third day but rather suffer in hellfire for eternity for them. Christ takes that penalty away from us!

Very interesting. So I’m guessing that every human being after the fall (in the OT and NT) who were saved through the law or without the law were saved by Christ’s death 2000 years ago?

 

[Nita]

In Catholicism, “being saved from sin” means far more than just being saved from the consequences (condemnation) of our sins. Salvation includes that, but more importantly it means overcoming and removing the sinfulness in us so that it is no longer there, no longer part of our being.

To give a physical analogy: if someone has cancer, to be “saved” from cancer means more than just not suffering death from that cancer, more than just having the doctor say it’s gone even tho he knows it is still present and controlling your health. It means being cured of that cancer – not having that cancer present in one’s body.

This is one of the major differences between the Catholic understanding of what it means to be “saved” from our sins and the understanding of many, or most, Protestant denominations. Many Protestant denominations understand it as just not having to suffer the consequences of sin. No change necessarily takes place in our being. As long as we accept Jesus, God will “declare” us righteous, even tho we are not!!!

 

[Nita]

Very interesting. So I’m guessing that every human being after the fall (in the OT and NT) who were saved through the law or without the law were saved by Christ’s death 2000 years ago?

Yes. Had Christ not redeemed us, no one would have been saved – regardless of when they lived.

 

[fhansen]

The difference between the Old Covenant and the New is that mere obedience to the Law could effect no real change in man, only an outward show of holiness. Even if sins were forgiven nothing changed to correct the problem that causes sin to begin with.

In the New Covenant, God is to truly become the God of man again whereupon He can begin the process of placing His Laws on our hearts and writing them in our minds (Jer 31). Grace is missing in man, which means that God is missing in man-which is why our justification can only start with faith, the beginning of restored relationship.

 

[R_C]

Very interesting. So I’m guessing that every human being after the fall (in the OT and NT) who were saved through the law or without the law were saved by Christ’s death 2000 years ago?

Yes. They were not admitted to the Beatific Vision until Christ descended unto the “place of the dead”, later called limbus patrum, a teaching found in the Christian Profession of Faith: “descendit ad inferos” (where “inferos” is not Hell - infernum - but “the lower places”, the place of the dead"). Indeed Christ Himself rejoiced at this when He said:

a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

 

[paul_c]

I am coming to appreciate how deep the truth about salvation really is.

To be saved we need to be in the state of grace, which is a sharing of God’s life and holiness. We enter into the state of grace through Baptism, where we (or our parents) ask for the grace of God and it is freely granted. This was made possible by the paschal sacrifice of Jesus, who initiated the sacraments as visible signs of his grace. But it goes far beyond even this truth. Jesus also initiated the Eucharist, where we can literally feed on him, gaining the graces necessary to love unconditionally. And Jesus’ words and actions were testimony to how it is ultimately this love that saves us. Only by loving, which is giving of ourselves unconditionally, can we ever reach the ultimate happiness of seeing God. In life, the grace of the sacraments, devotions and works of charity will teach us to love. If we die in the state of grace but still have a tendency to sin, we will be purified in purgatory to the point that our only desire is for the good of others. Alas, this is what heaven is really about, being in a place where everyone puts others needs ahead of their own. And this is what Jesus gave us

 

[TimothyH]

Yes. Had Christ not redeemed us, no one would have been saved – regardless of when they lived.

That’s the whole point. Nita, your statement answers the question in the original post.

Christ redeemed us. Like St. Paul, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (cf Phillipians 2:12), and we recieve that salvation at death, not before. Salvation occurs at death. We are saved at death but we have already been redeemed by Christ.

There is very real benefit to being a believer in and follower of Christ while we are still alive on earth. There can be great peace and joy in the midst of incredible trails and tribulations, but salvation is won only after we have run the race well (cf Hebrews 12:1).

-Tim-

 

[PaulinePresbytr]

Very interesting. So I’m guessing that every human being after the fall (in the OT and NT) who were saved through the law or without the law were saved by Christ’s death 2000 years ago?

The law doesn’t save, it merely exposes our sins to us that we may repent. Christ is the only way to heaven, and as such those who trusted in him, even those who lived before the atonement, are saved by him.

 

[paul_c]

The law doesn’t save, it merely exposes our sins to us that we may repent. Christ is the only way to heaven, and as such those who trusted in him, even those who lived before the atonement, are saved by him.

I agree with this. But it takes more than to trust in Jesus, we must also do his Father’s will for us. (Matthew 7: 21-23). And what God wills for us can be summed up in the great commandment: Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself…

 

[R_C]

I agree with this. But it takes more than to trust in Jesus, we must also do his Father’s will for us. (Matthew 7: 21-23). And what God wills for us can be summed up in the great commandment: Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself…

For our protestant brothers, to have faith somehow implies to do the works. Few protestants truly believe that faith without works attains salvation - the general assertion being: if I have faith, I will do the works. An erroneous assertion, of course, for essentially the works depend on our free will.

And we should not compare ourselves with those who lived before the Incarnation of the Son - we are under a new covenant where observance of the Law is not the point, so to speak. That is: we are still called to fulfill the law, but this is done through grace. We don’t attain grace by fulfilling the law, but we fulfill the law by the grace merited by Christ.

 

[PaulinePresbytr]

I agree with this. But it takes more than to trust in Jesus, we must also do his Father’s will for us. (Matthew 7: 21-23). And what God wills for us can be summed up in the great commandment: Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself…

That basically is loving Jesus. You can’t love Jesus and God and your sin at the same time, man cannot serve 2 masters.

 

[paul_c]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul c View Post
I agree with this. But it takes more than to trust in Jesus, we must also do his Father’s will for us. (Matthew 7: 21-23). And what God wills for us can be summed up in the great commandment: Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself.

I agree with this as well. I was simply drawing out the point that faith alone is not enough. You must show love as evidence of your faith to be saved.

 

[thistle]

Kind of a very basic question but something I never quite understood.

Everyone says that Jesus is our savior and he saved us. But really, if we desire to be saved, we have to repent and receive Baptism/go to confession and whenever we fall into state of mortal sin, repent and confess again (by the grace of God of course).

This is not much different from the Jewish practice of repenting and offering sacrifices for forgiveness of sins in that in both scenarios, by the grace of God, we are moved to repentence and action (offering sacrifice or going to confession).

People say Jesus saved us from death or Jesus saved us from sin but even before Jesus, people who followed YHWH could have had their sins forgiven through repentence.

So what does it mean?

Redemption and salvation are different.
Christ redeemed us but we are not saved unless we die in a state of grace.