“It would be difficult to find a concept which is richer and more varied in meaning than the biblical concept of salvation. The breadth of salvation is so sweeping and its intended aim so magnificent that in many contexts the words used defy precise definition. Yet these difficulties have not thwarted numerous interpreters from assuming, often without any contextual justification, that the words used invariably mean ‘deliverance from hell’ or ‘go to heaven when you die.’ It may come as a surprise to many that this usage of ‘salvation’ (Gk. soteria) would have been the least likely meaning to come to the mind of a reader of the Bible in the first century. Indeed, in 812 usages of the various Hebrew words translated ‘to save’ or ‘salvation’ in the Old Testament, only 58 (7.1 percent) refer to eternal salvation.
As will be seen in the following discussion, the tendency to assume that salvation always refers to final deliverance from hell has led many to interpret certain passages incorrectly. When James, for example, says, ‘Can faith alone save a man,’ the Experimental Predestinarians [those that maintain that ones salvation must be tested by experiment, i.e., ones life experience] understandably are perplexed about the apparent conflict with Paul. However, if salvation means something other than ‘go to heaven when you die,’ the apparent conflict evaporates.1Joseph C. Dillow, ‘The Reign of the Servant Kings’, 1992, Schoettle Publishing, Miami Springs, Fl, pp. 110-120
The neglected salvation is not our final deliverance from hell, that is not the salvation “about which we are speaking.” Rather, it is the opportunity to enter into the final destiny of man, to reign with Christ over the works of God’s hands (Heb. 2:8-9).2George N. H. Peters, commenting on Heb. 1:14, puts it this way, “Salvation includes far more than moral and bodily regeneration, for it embraces the covenanted kingdom of God, the inheritance of David’s Son, the joint-heirship and reign with Christ” (George N. H. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom, 3 vols. [New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1884; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1972), 3:451).There is something conditional about entering into this salvation. It is the salvation he has just mentioned in 1:14. He tells us there is a danger from which we cannot escape if we neglect it. For the writer of the epistle the danger to which he refers is not loss of justification, “because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14). Our eternal destiny is secure. What is contingent is whether or not we will be “richly rewarded” and “receive what He has promised” (Heb. 10:36) which is achieved only “through faith and patience” (Heb. 6:12). The writer says that the Lord announced this salvation. While one could think of the Lord’s teaching to Nicodemus regarding salvation from hell, the context of Heb. 2:5-10 suggests another salvation: But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom (Lk. 12:31-32). And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on the throne, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Lk. 22:29-30). Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt. 19:28). Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near (Mt. 4:17). The coming kingdom of heaven announced here by Jesus is none other than the predicted kingdom-salvation of the Old Testament. It is the time of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6).3Because of Israel’s rejection, the final form of that kingdom, the millennium, was postponed until the second advent but was inaugurated in a mystery form in the present age. The miracles which confirmed it (Heb. 2:4) are powers of the coming age (Heb. 6:5).
Such a salvation, joint participation with Christ in the coming kingdom rule, is contingent upon our faithful perseverance and obedience. That is why he says: need to get the rest of this thought 4[Dillow, op. cit., p. 131]:
“The writer of Hebrews uses seven eschatological passages in Heb. 1:5-14 to demonstrate Jesus’ right to rule in the coming millennial kingdom. Because of this extensive quoting from six psalms and 2 Samuel 7, the term soteria (‘salvation’) in Heb. 1:14 is best understood in the Old Testament sense as deliverance from the enemies of Yahweh and participation in His kingdom.” 5Kem Oberholtzer, “The Warning Passages in Hebrews,” Bibliotheca Sacra 145:577 (January-March 1988):96-97.] quoted by Thomas Constable https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/nt/hebrews/hebrews.htm
“Are they [the angels] not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14) F.F. Bruce says that the “The salvation here spoken of [Heb. 1:14] lies in the future; it is yet to be inherited, even if its blessings can already be enjoyed in anticipation. That is to say, it is that eschatological salvation which, in Paul’s words, is now ‘nearer to us than when we first believed’ (Rom. 13:11) or, in Peter’s words, is ‘ready to be revealed in the last time’ (I Pet. 1:5).”6F.F. Bruce, Hebrews, pg 25
” “So great salvation” in Heb. 2:3 is NOT the salvation which we presently possess. Rather it is a FUTURE salvation, and it is clearly set forth in this manner in the immediately preceding context [Heb. 1:1-14]…It has to do with that time when God will again bring His firstborn Son (the One Who is to exercise the rights of primogeniture), the “heir of all things,” into the inhabited world (vv. 2, 5, 6); and it has to do with those redeemed individuals who are to appear as His
companions, inheriting with him in that day (vv. 9, 14). “7So Great Salvation by Arlen L. Chitwood. http://bibleone.net/SGS.htm
“So great Salvation,” seen in the first of these five warnings, is the SAME salvation, deliverance, seen throughout ALL of the warnings. It is realizing the greatest thing God has ever designed for redeemed man, — occupying A POSITION AS CO-HEIR with His Son in the coming kingdom… In short, it has to do with man, after 6,000 years, finally being brought into the position which he was created to occupy in the beginning. Christ, ‘the second man,’ ‘the last Adam,’ will take the kingdom and ascend the throne, along with numerous companions from among those whom He has redeemed.“8So Great Salvation by Arlen L. Chitwood. http://bibleone.net/SGS.htm
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