Personal And Social Salvation by slaveofone
The separation of personal from social salvation made it possible for Bible-believing slave traders to conduct daily devotions on ships carrying human cargo like cattle.
Dale Brown, Biblical Pacifism: A Peace Church Perspective, p. 141
As a Mennonite, I really resonate with the message of this quote. It reminds me that the gospel message can be narrowed down into something that is only inner, personal, and individual, at which point it tends to focus on a kind of salvation from or out of the world, forgetting that the gospel is also about salvation within or for the world. We reclaim this aspect of the gospel when we remember that Yeshua’s salvation was social just as much as it was personal. That he didn’t come only to save us from our sins, from our guilt, or from the influence of sin in our lives, but to free those who were captives to physical and social ills or evils, to bring healing and restoration to heart, mind, and body, and to challenge and overthrow authorities, powers, and structures through self-sacrifice, peace, love, mercy, and by returning evil with good. The Christ who died on a cross for our sins is the same Christ who said the greatest among us will be the servant of all, who told us to give what we had to the poor, who said whatever we did (or by contrast did not do) to the very least of those among us is what we did (or did not do) to him, who reached out to bring healing, restoration, and redemption to those on the boundaries of or even outside the accepted order: women, children, immigrants, untouchables, national and ethnic enemies. YHWH is at work reconciling not just ourselves, but all creation, to himself through Yeshua.