When we speak of salvation, the very first thing

that enters our mind is being saved from sin.

That is our goal in our life.
SALVATION is understood as the liberation
from straitened circumstances or from other
evils, and or a translation into a state of
freedom and security
As sin is the greatest evils, being the root and
source of all evil, Sacred Scripture uses the
word “salvation” mainly in the sense of
liberation of human race or individual man
from sin and its consequences.

Salvation is always associated with

liberation from sin. That is why, when
we speak of salvation, the first thing
that enters our mind is our spiritual
battle of good versus evil
But let us take into a deeper understanding this
concept by going to the experience of the
people of God in the Old Testament and the
preaching in the New Testament.
 1. Yasha
Hebrew is the primary language used in the
Old Testament. The Hebrew term Yasha
denotes the word salvation in the Old
Testament
it is the possession of space and freedom. The
opposite of yasha is tsarar which means
constraint or straits.
The Israelites’ experience of slavery in Egypt is
reflective of tsarar in their life where there
was no freedom, no possession, and no
dignity; while their occupation of the
Promised Land reflects their experience of
yasha.
2. Sozein (Jesus’ community) Lk. 4:18-19
Greek is the original language of the New
Testament. The word salvation is denoted by
the Greek word sozein signifying the need to
be set free from all kinds of burden of the
individual (danger, injustice, sickness) and or
the community (war, political upheaval,
famine). Salvation is understood as
something rooted on earthly realities.
 Salvation is not something exclusively up in
heaven and experienced only after death
 It is basically an experiential reality
experienced by concrete, flesh and blood
human beings situated in a particular space
and time
 Salvation is primarily the deliverance of the
individual and the community from any need.
 The experience of Salvation is a collective
experience. (the deliverance of an individual
from need at the expense of others or of the
community is not salvation but injustice)
 Though we experience salvation here on
earth, it is only fragmentary and it implies
that there is a higher dimension of salvation
in God.
 Salvation is understood, interpreted, and
carried out according to one’s culture
 4. Ginhawa: Salvation in the Philippines
context
 a. Ginhawa is a relief from physical and inner
suffering
 b. Ginhawa refers to the total well being of
the person.
 c. Christian ginhawa is at least an earthly
experience of well-being
 d. There is the upper dimension of ginhawa
implying that it is consumated only in God.
Salvation History is the history of the salvation
of human race, beginning with God’s promise
of Redeemer and continuing to the end of the
apostolic age, or the death of the apostle St.
John up to now.
This tackles peoples, events, and places which
are relevant to salvation; of how God revealed
Himself to the people in the past; of how God
saved them and how He showed love for
them; and of how He is guiding us to go back
to His Kingdom
The stages of Salvation history, are the pre-
figuration of salvation, preparation of
salvation, fulfillment of the promise of
salvation, sharing of salvation, and the
consummation of salvation
 God created man in his image; in the divine image
he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them saying : “Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the
fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the living
things that move on the earth” (Gen. 1:27-28)
The Six Days of Creation (Gen. 1:1-2:4a)

According to biblical writers, in the beginning the

eath was a formless wasteland plunged in
darkness and water. There was chaos in the world

The Genesis account describes the six days of

creation in the most orderly manner possible. The
story creation is presented in a pattern and poem
like structure that is essentially an aid to memory.
This was important since the story was passed on
orally from generation to generation.
First day – light from darkness
Fifth day – Birds to fly through the air
and sea creatures to inhabit the water
The author of the story of creation perceived
the earth to be flat. Underneath the dry land
were waters pushing their way through the
earth surface. Above the earth was
firmament shaped like an inverted bowl.
Above the firmament were more
waters. The firmament had flood
gates where the rain could pass to
fall on the earth. It also served as
the resting place for moon, sun
and stars that move about its
surface as they shed light on the
earth.
The author’s primitive understanding of
the world is immaterial. The Genesis
account of creation does not intend
to explain how the world came to be.
It neither affirms nor denies any of
the many scientific explanations of
how the world came to be as it is
today.
It is not an attempt to provide
scientific information about how the
world came to be.
The creation story makes clear why
there is a world. The one true God is
the reason why everything exist. He is
the source of life and Creator of
everything.
He creates the world not because he
needs it but sheerly out of his love
and goodness. God’s creative activity
brings order out of Chaos by his
words and everything that he creates
is good.
There is no contradiction between
Science and Religion.
Science attempts to explain how the
world evolved while religion proclaims
why there is world.
Creation is the beginning and the
foundation of God’s saving plan that
culminates in Jesus Christ, in the Holy
Spirit.
“for us there is one God, the Father
from whom all things come, and from
whom we live; and the one Lord Jesus
Christ through whom everything was
made and through whom we live,” and
the Holy Spirit who ‘gives life’
The pinnacle of God’s creation is man
and woman

“Let us make man in our image, after

our likeness. Let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and the birds
of the air, and the cattle, and over all
the wild animals and all the creatures
that crawl on the ground.”
The man and woman are created in the
image of Jesus Christ, the image of
the invisible God (Col. 1:15) who
reveals in his life passion, death and
resurrection what it means to be truly
human.
Created in God’s image and likeness
does not mean man and woman are
equal to God .
The human being is an embodied spirit,
a union of body and soul
God gives man and woman the spiritual
powers of thinking and willing similar to
his own mind and will.
With the soul the person has the power of
learning, loving and growing.
The person can mature to become
authentically human in the knowledge
and love of God and of other people
The human being relates to and is part
of the material world through one’s
Body. Human are not to despise their
bodily life.

Rather, they are obliged to regard the

body as good and honorable since God
has created it and will raise it up on the
last day.
So what are the implication of this
statement for you?
Man and woman as images of God are
appointed to exercise sterwardship
over all earthly creatures
 1. How do we value God’s Creation?

 2. In your own experience what sort of

abuses you inflict to God’s creation?

 3. Which of God’s creation is/are your

favorite? Why?

 4. If you are to suggest the order of Creation,

how it should be? Why it has to be in that
order?

 5. if you are to convince an atheist, who

don’t believe that God created this world how
it would be?
Rejection of God’s Love
There is always an argument regarding
original sin. There were two schools of
thought who gave an idea about the
original sin. Although they were
millennium apart still, they in
contradiction with the catholic belief.
Named after Pelagius as British monk, who
happens to be the main proponent.
Their teachings include: Human will is morally
omnipotent, original sin is non existent:
Baptism is unnecessary; sanctifying grace is not
a principle of supernatural life; actual graces
are merely external: and Christ redemptive
mission was not designed to free men from sin.
These teachings are very alarming. They are
reducing God’s love. That man can live without
sacraments. And by just doing good, man can
have eternal life
Established during the period of Enlightenment.
Their ideals are naturalism but their method
was rationalism.
Matthew Tindal
Based on their teaching original sin was
due to the limitations of the universe,
or man’s native propensity to create
myths to explain what was unknown.
The Rationalists have two views on the
book of Genesis.
First:, they viewed Genesis as a
narrative symbol. It was about a
passage of humanity in general or
man’s experience of maturity and
status. For the rationalist original sin
was mythological description. It was
about a conflict to increase his
present status.
The second view was, man realized his
sinfulness in the Book of Genesis.
Adam serves as a model for all man. He
has gap with God due to his
disobedience. It has something to do
with his religious life. In addition, a
similar idea to the second view, it holds
that original sin symbolizes man’s
condition as a finite being.
A church’s doctrine at the Council of
Trent states that “The first man Adam
immediately lost the justice and
holiness in which he was constituted
when he disobeyed the command of
God in the Garden of Paradise.” This
gives an idea that there is a situation
before and after the fall.
Before the fall, Adam had all the
blessings that God gave him. There is
no conflict or argument with other
created beings. Everything was in
perfect order.

There is peace and harmony all through

out the land. On the other hand, after
the fall Adam lost all of these.
According to Mc Brien (1994) “Original sin is
the state or condition in which, because of
the sin of Adam and Eve, all human persons
are born. The term has two references: the
initial, originating sin of Adam and Eve
(peccatum originale originans), and the
subsequent originated universality of
human sin (peccatum originale originatum)
Original sin is the word used to signify the
disobedience of man against God or the
beginning of man’s estrangement from
God.

The sin of our first parents is referred to

as ‘originating sin. It is their personal
act both free and conscious that made
the entire humanity alienate from God.
Their disobedience resulted to tensions
between God, land and nature
Human beings did not inherit their
personal sin but the effects of sin that is
away by pouring water in the sacrament
of Baptism (Second Vatican Council).
Sin makes life miserable's. Goodness always need
sacrifices. There is always a difficulty in avoiding
sin. It is always easy to do bad than to do good.
That is why man is inclined to sin. The sacraments
are necessary to fight sins.
As explained by the CBCP (2008) in the
Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC),
there are seven capital sins from
which other sins come from it.

Capital sins do not affect an

individual but also have a corporate
dimension which affects groups,
institutions, and various social
dimensions.
 Pride:
Exalting Oneself
 Lust:
Disorder desire for sexual pleasure
 Wrath/Anger:
Destructive Aggressiveness
 Gluttony:
Excessive Indulgence for Food and
Drink
 Envy:
Begrudging others their talents,
success, and wishing them evil
 Greed/Covetousness:
Desiring what belongs to others
 Sloth:
Laziness and escape from exerting due
effort
God loves us very much even though
we are sinners. The more we sin, the
more He shows us His love for us. He is
very merciful God. But still, we should
not abuse His Kindness.
The invitation, a change of heart is coming
from Christ (metanoia), that is to say,
through that intimate and total change and
renewal of the entire man- of all his
opinions, judgments and decisions- which
takes place in him in the light of the sanctity
and charity of God, the sanctity and charity
which were manifested to us in the Son and
communicated fully.
In the presence of Christ man is illuminated
with a new light and consequently
recognizes the holiness of God and the
gravity of sin.

Through the word of Christ a message is

transmitted to him which invites him to
conversion and grants forgiveness of sins.
These gifts he fully attains in Baptism.
Those who approach the sacrament of
penance receive from the mercy of God
forgiveness for offenses committed
against Him and at the same time
become reconciled with the church on
which they have inflicted a wound by
sinning
Adam and Eve had two sons. Eve
conceived and bore Cain saying, I have
produced a man with the help of the
Lord. Next, she bore his brother Abel.