As previously explained, I've enrolled in the University of Notre Dame's Satellite Theological Education Program (STEP) to pursue their Certificate in Doctrine and am currently taking my second of the required courses: The Doctrine of Salvation in Jesus Christ. This week's topic is The Theme of Salvation in the Old Testament. In this post, I'm posting my responses to some of the discussion questions.
Remember: These are the musings of a student based on the assigned readings, lecture, and class discussion.
1. What is the significance of the Paschal Lamb? How is it significant to the Exodus story?
The first thing that comes to mind is the need to distinguish the paschal lamb and the scapegoat. Leviticus 16 explains that Aaron was to receive two goats from the Israelite people. He cast lots, choosing one goat for the Lord and one for Azazel. (The notes to the NAB state that Azazel is "a name for a demon (meaning something like “angry/fierce god”).")
Verses 21-22 then explain that:
Laying both hands* on its head, he shall confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and their trespasses, including all their sins, and so put them on the goat’s head.i He shall then have it led into the wilderness by an attendant. The goat will carry off all their iniquities to an isolated region.
In contrast, the passover lamb was sacrificed the provide the blood that marked the homes of the Israelites so that the angel of death would pass over their homes in the 10th plague.
All of which raises a question for which I don't have an answer: Which is how did Christianity adopt the paschal lamb as a metaphor for Christ's work in salvation from sin, whereas the passover lamb was sacrificed to save the earthly life of the eldest child. In contrast, it was the scapegoat that bore the sins of the people and whose expulsion into the desert atoned for those sins.
It may have something to do with the fact that the scapegoat was allowed to live, while Hebrews 9:22 tells us that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." More musing seems needed.
2. What do most people think of when they think of “salvation?” Based on your reading, what do you now think?
I casually equated salvation with the afterlife; specifically, will salvation from hell. But upon reflection on the readings and lecture this week, I wonder whether eternal life is rather the result of salvation rather than being part of God's salvific act.
The Catechism (para. 55) suggests this is correct by explaining that:
“After the fall, [God] buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing.”
In other words, eternal life is the gift God gives all those who have been saved.
In the story of Exodus, we have a metaphor for salvation as liberation. God liberated the Hebrews from Egypt, as a consequence of which their (earthly) lives were rescued.
The Old Testament story, of course, doesn't end with the Exodus. God repeatedly must liberate the Hebrews from one mess after another. This speaks to an aspect of salvation with which I struggle; namely having the hope versus the assurance of salvation.
When I was brought up as a Protestant, I was taught salvation was a one-time thing. You prayed the sinner's prayer and then you were saved. Period. So we had the "assurance of salvation." When I took RCIA preparing to become Catholic, I was disconcerted to learn Catholics have "only" the "hope of salvation." But the metaphor to the Old Testament story helps make sense of the Catholic view. Just as God had to repeatedly liberate the Hebrews after they got themselves into trouble and called on him for help, so to God must repeatedly liberate us from sin.