Is Self-Preservation Salvation?

Last updated on: February 24, 2017 at 10:15 am by Paul Louis Metzger

Is Self-Preservation Salvation? 2017-02-24T10:15:01-08:00 Paul Louis Metzger

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In a post-apocalyptic world of almost total extinction, a father and son struggle to survive. They fight against the elements, hunger, and the threats of robbery and murder, even cannibalism, to make their way south to the coast in hopes of finding warmer climate. Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer prize-winning The Road, which was also made into a film, is a classic, gripping tale of familial self-preservation.

As harrowing and far-reaching in horror as the book and film are, they come close and touch our hearts. Who wouldn’t do everything in their strength to protect those closest to their blood and souls? The father and son’s bond is remarkable; one might go so far as to envy their special connection, even though it is formed in the crucible of extreme suffering.

I read the book years ago, and only watched the movie this week. In watching the film, I was struck by how the father is so driven to preserve their lives that he finds it almost impossible to express compassion toward others on the way; the son has to plead with him on a few occasions to have mercy on strangers.

As I reflected on the movie, I also reflected on salvation. There is a line in the movie in which an old man says to the father that if there is a God in heaven, he would have turned his back on them by now. One would think so. But would one be thinking rightly?

In the New Testament, we find a God who does not turn his back on us, or who engages in self-preservation in the face of opposition. Matthew’s Gospel is about “God with us” (See Matthew 1:23; Matthew 28:20), but it is not only his friends and loved ones whom God is “with.” In the crucifixion scene, he is with his enemies, too. Here we find Jesus’ enemies mocking him:

He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, “I am the Son of God” (Matthew 27:42-43; ESV).

The very next verse says that the robbers who are crucified with Jesus mock him, too (Matthew 27:44). In Luke 23:32-43, we find the rulers of the people, the soldiers and one of the robbers mocking him, calling on him to save himself. Yet Jesus tells the robber who defends him in this gospel account that he will be “with” him that very day in Paradise; Jesus even asks his Father in heaven to forgive those who torment him.

In a way unknown to them, Jesus’ enemies are correct: Jesus cannot save himself if he is going to save others. Salvation does not involve self-preservation, but self-denial. In our “Moralistic Therapeutic Deistic” age, we may be led to think that God helps those who help themselves. In our individualistic culture, we might also be led to think that God saves us from others. But how often do we think that God saves us from ourselves, and from our various forms of self-preservation?

God does not turn his back on us in the face of extinction, but upon himself. The Father and Son undergo excruciating suffering and experience our rejection in order to save us. In giving up his Son, the Father gives himself to us. There is a dying to the divine self that disturbs my imagination and my soul.

God loves his enemies. At best, we love our allies, our friends, and our families. After all, aren’t they important to our own self-preservation in some way? However, if our ultimate spiritual problem is ourselves, namely, selfish love, preserving self (even through our posterity) does not take away the problem. So, how can Jesus save himself if he is to correct the problem?

Jesus dies to himself to care for us, who if we were God, would have turned our backs on humanity long ago. On the road to salvation—which is Golgotha, God turns his back on his own self-preservation to love his enemies. He is with us, even as he dies to himself. For those who would seek to follow him down life’s road, we are to do the same. As Jesus instructs us,

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:43-48; ESV).

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