In a past blog it was mentioned that many protestants are unaware of the different modes of Salvation that are present in the Bible. Temporal, Eternal, Middle and General are all types of Salvation taught by the Bible. Protestants often overlook this.
Today I want to discuss Temporal Salvation and the Bible. The Old testament includes many examples of Temporal Salvation.
Examples are Gen 49:18-19, Ex 14:13-14, Deut 23:14, 1 Sam 12:7. These are all examples of God delivering Israel from various temporal calamities. Some of these may have been brought on by their sins. Job 33 also deals with this theme. There are plenty more passages that deal with the concept.
While the New Testament mostly covers the Eternal Salvation given to mankind by Jesus Christ, it also has several examples of temporal salvation. Examples of this are Matt 8:23-25, Matt 24:22, Matt 27:42, Luke 1:68-71, Matt 14:28-31, Luke 1:46-55.
I find Luke 1:46-55 to be particularly interesting because Protestants try to use this as an example of Mary needing to be saved. While we as Catholics agree that Mary was saved, we point out that she was saved before she was Born. Instead of being pulled from the pit and cleaned up, she was prevented from falling in the first place. The problem though with this passage is that Mary is talking about being saved from her lowly position in Life and raised to a higher position. He is saving her from temporal circumstances. The whole passage talks about various other forms of temporal salvation.
The main factor with Temporal Salvation is that God does not have to be the savior. In Matt 14:28, Peter could have been pulled out of the water by someone else as is the case in the other examples.
Some examples of God using individuals as “temporal Saviors” would be 2 Kings 13:3-5, Neh 9:26-27, Obad 20-21. You can see that God indeed sends “temporal saviors” to deliver us from the temporal consequence of sin.
I think that most Protestants agree that God still uses temporal punishment when we sin. He uses this as discipline. It is used to keep us on the strait and narrow.
Proverbs 16:6 says that love and faithfullness atone for iniquity. The atonement mentioned in this passage is referring to temporal atonement. So when Catholics talk about Salvation by Grace alone, through Faith working in Love we are not just talking about the Eternal Salvation brought by Jesus alone, we are talking about the temporal Salvation that we all participate in as members of the Body of Christ.
From this, I would even say that the all the sufferings that I go through with my medical condition are God’s temporal punishment that he used to bring me back to him and his Church. In many ways it has been a blessing because I would rather live with the hardship in this life than an eternal life of suffering in Hell. The prayers of the righteous availeth much, just as the Bible teaches.
I would also connect my receiving the Sacrament of the annointing of the sick when I was sick as an example of God working as a temporal savior as well as the priest, my parents, and even myself.
On a final note, purgatory is the place where the remnants of the temporal effects of our sins are purged from us so that we can see God face to face in Heaven as nothing unclean can enter heaven.
A good book on this topic is The Salvation Controversy by James Akin. This book has increased exponentially my understanding of the Catholic position on Salvation.
