The English word, salvation, comes from the Latin, salvatio. The Hebrew word yasha means deliverance, rescue, salvation, safety, welfare. In its earliest use, yasha meant “to be or make wide.” Evil and danger were always regarded as narrowing conditions, and the sufferer cries out from the “narrow” place. In battle, enemies surround and hem in, narrowing and constricting one’s passage, progress, and forward movement. When help comes, the sufferer is restored to a “wide” place.
Yasha and its derivatives express victory, being enlarged and expanded and unconfined. The passionate appeal Hoshi’ah’na is best rendered “Give victory,” and the concept of salvation is of being saved or protected from harm, or delivered from a dire situation.
Ge’ulah, redemption, refers to the people of Israel being redeemed from their various exiles, slavery in Egypt, or salvation from enemies in war. Hence, salvation was of the survival, or victory, of the remnant, the return of the “saved” or survivors from exile.
The concept of salvation from sin as it is understood in Christianity, that of escape from eternal damnation, has no equivalent in Judaism. Salvation from sin is unnecessary in Judaism, because Judaism does not believe that humankind is inherently evil or sinful or in need of escape from eternal damnation. In fact, Judaism does not even believe in eternal damnation.
Recognizing that people have sinful impulses, Judaism also recognizes the inclination to do good and to be good, and that we are able to choose whether to follow the evil inclination or the good inclination. It is within our ability to be righteous, and if we miss the mark, we can obtain forgiveness through prayer, teshuvah, and good deeds. Sacrifices at the Temple were never required to obtain salvation or atonement, and furthermore, salvation and atonement are two different concepts. The entire notion of only a sacrifice-centered system required for salvation, or for atonement of sin, does not come from the Hebrew bible.
According to the rabbis, both righteous Jews and righteous Gentiles will be welcomed into olam ha’bah, the world to come. Again, sacrifices were not required to be deemed righteous in one's standing before G!d. Gentiles are deemed righteous based on whether they have fulfilled the seven Noahide commandments: to establish courts of justice and to refrain from blaspheming the G!d of Israel, idolatry, sexual perversion, bloodshed, robbery, and eating meat cut from a living animal.
Neither Jews, nor their Bible, have ever claimed salvation based on belief, and have ever claimed life in the world to come as solely for Jews. This concept is totally foreign to Jews and to the Jewish bible.
For Christians, salvation is only possible through belief in Jesus, that his death on the cross was the once-for-all sacrifice that atoned for the sins of humanity. According to Christian belief, sin as the human predicament is considered to be universal and complete. Christian salvation concepts are varied and complicated, and the purpose of salvation is debated, but in general most Christian theologians agree that G!d devised a plan of salvation through belief in Jesus so that humans could be freed from sin, and the suffering associated with the punishment of sin—i.e., death and/or an eternity in a place of great suffering.
In Islam, salvation refers to the eventual entrance to heaven, teaching that people who die disbelieving in Allah do not receive salvation. It also teaches that non-Muslims who die believing in Allah but disbelieving in his message through Mohammed are left to Allah’s will. Those who die believing in the One G!d and his message (Islam) receive salvation.
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism share certain key concepts, which are interpreted differently by various groups. In those traditions, one is not liberated from sin, but from the saṃsāra (cycle of rebirth) perpetuated by passions and delusions and the resulting karma. They differ in their perspectives on the exact nature of this liberation.
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