Last week’s post examined the Holy Spirit as the principal agent of authentic innovation. Today’s post examines innovation in the salvation history.
As a recap, the theology of innovation (in Christianity) is a theological reflection on human creativity and newness as participation in God’s ongoing creative and redemptive work, guided by the Holy Spirit, rooted in scripture and tradition, and oriented toward the mission of the Church and the salvation of souls.
Salvation history refers to the unfolding of God’s loving plan to redeem humanity from sin and death through a series of interconnected deeds and words in human history (cf. Dei Verbum, 2). Salvation goes back to God’s motive for creating humans in his image and likeness. As the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarises it: “God has created everything for them; but he has created them to know, serve and love God, to offer all of creation in this world in thanksgiving back to him and to be raised up to life with him in heaven” (n. 67). Hence, when the first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God and fell from the state of grace, salvation became necessary to restore humanity to the purpose of being with God at the end.
Major phases in salvation history are creation and the promise to Abraham; the patriarchs and the Exodus; the Kingdom and exile; the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery; and the Church and the Second Coming. Most of this unfolding is recorded in the Bible, directed to the purpose of our salvation, and which serves “as a history of salvation in which God speaks and acts in order to encounter all men and women and to save them from evil and death” (Aperuit Illis, 9).
Innovation runs throughout salvation history, and it is grounded in God’s response to humanity’s sinfulness.
In response to Adam and Eve’s sin, God made a garment of skins to cover their nakedness (Gen 3:21). The skins symbolise the first animal sacrifice; a symbolic one for atonement of sins, which points towards the sacrifice of Christ. He subsequently drove them out of the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:24). As the human population increased and sin deepened, God destroyed the entire earth with a flood (Gen 6-8). However, he later established a covenant with Noah, and promised that he will never curse the ground or destroy every living creature as he did (Gen 8:21), and “never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Gen 9:11). Although God later destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of sin, it was not at the scale of the first.
As the biblical narratives centred on the Israelites as the chosen people, analysis of God’s actions focused on them. God was concerned about his reputation if he destroyed people immediately they sinned. This concern is primarily rooted in protecting his reputation, his glory, and his faithfulness to the covenant promises he made to the patriarchs. When the Israelites worshipped the golden calf, God wanted to destroy them, but Moses intervened, citing possible mockery from the Egyptians for leading them out of Egypt and killing them (Exodus 32:10-12). A similar thing happened again when the Israelites rebelled against God at Kadesh Barnea. God wanted to strike them with pestilence and disinherit them. However, Moses argued that if God killed them all, the nations would say he was not powerful enough to complete his purpose (Numbers 14:13-16).
Sacrifice as a means of atonement for sins reappeared more concretely in the phase of the patriarchs and the Exodus. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life” (Leviticus 17:11). Hence, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). However, these sacrifices had to be done yearly. Moreover, the high priests offering these sacrifices had to first offer sacrifices daily for their own sins, and then for those of the people (Hebrews 7:26-27; 10:11). Later on, God sent prophets to preach repentance from sin (Isaiah 55:6-7; Jeremiah 26:2-3; Ezekiel 14:6; 18:30-32; Joel 2:12-13).
When these did not effectively yield the desired results, it necessitated the need for a “a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Heb 7:26), who can offer for all time, a single sacrifice (Heb 7:27). Hence, at the fullness of time (Gal 4:4), and out of love for humanity, God sent his Son so that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” and that “the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
Therefore, Christ became the eternal high priest (Heb 6:20; 7:24) who offered for all time a single sacrifice and now sits at the right hand of God (Heb 10:12). Little wonder, the letter to the Hebrews begins thus: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb 1:1-2).
The inevitable questions are: Why did God innovate with the coming of Christ? As an omnipotent God, couldn’t he have simply forgiven us from heaven or did something similar to what he did in the case of Adam and Eve? Moreover, were sacrifices really that necessary?
First, God gave each person free will and does not impose things on humans; otherwise, the agency for moral actions is extinguished. To put it simply, if God imposes actions, then humans are not culpable for the sins they commit. Jesus emphasised the need for consent to be his disciple (John 6:66-68) and never imposed a miracle on anyone. Even in seemingly pressured cases to act, such as Jonah, Mary, and Paul, these people ultimately yielded because they wanted to. Jonah initially resisted but later yielded. Mary accepted to be the mother of God by her fiat before the Incarnation. Paul could have also resisted conversion even after encountering Jesus on the way to Damascus.
Consequently, the coming of Christ concretises our salvation and serves as a moral standard for the journey of repentance, holiness, and salvation. Sin entered the world through one man. Hence, just as through one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so too many are made righteous through Christ’s obedience (Rom 5:12,19; 1 Cor 15:21). Christ lived like us and experienced all we do, which serves as a model and source of strength in the salvation journey. Therefore, the letter to the Hebrews maintains that “we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).
Next week’s post examines the institution of the Eucharist as an innovative act of Christ.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
