Salvation, in the sense of deliverance from all evil, has ever been the object of the best religious faith and endeavor. This was the aim of Judaism, the religion of the people among whom Jesus was born. It is the goal of the religion he founded. It is likewise the purpose of the religion that Christian Scientists profess and intend to practice. For these reasons, salvation is a subject deserving to be clearly comprehended. Who or what is that which needs to be saved? And how can salvation be achieved? These are questions of the utmost importance to every one, and they are the subjects now to be examined.
Judaism was the purest monotheism which had become known to men before the Christian era. Christianity, as Jesus knew it, completely fulfilled the perfect promise of Judaism, but his knowledge of salvation was not completely imparted to his immediate followers, and what he did impart to them was not fully preserved. He himself foresaw and foretold the need of a future comprehension and interpretation of his Christianity. (John 16:12-15; 20:30; 21:25.) And this further and final comprehension and interpretation of that which Jesus knew and practiced has now become an accomplished fact, and is rightly named Christian Science.
In many respects, the concept of Deity held by the Jews to whom Jesus spoke was similar to that which he taught. There was, however, at least one fundamental difference. They did not regard God as being absolutely good, while he did. They did not intend to regard God as being less than entirely good, but they failed to distinguish completely between error and reality, and so ascribed to the God of Israel conditions and consequences which were essentially evil, as well as those which were entirely good.
