The ‘Redeemed’ and the ‘Elect’ in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

[First posted December 9, 2014.  We are in the 6th millennium in the biblical/Jewish calendar as year 5777.  The Roman/Gregorian calendar which superseded the Julian calendar places us in year 2016, since that calendar was  reconfigured by the  Roman religious-political power under Pope Gregory.  That calendar did a countdown to year ‘0’ (a non-existent year), categorizing time as “B.C” or “Before Christ” and later  “BCE” or “Before the Common Era”.   Then  the count-up after year 0 was  categorized as “A.D” which Christians mistake as “After Death” when it is really “Anno Domini” for “Year of our Lord”, now changed to “C.E.” for “Common Era”.  Confused?  

 

So what does this piece of trivia have to do with this post’s topic?  Well, Sinaites follow the Jewish reckoning of time and the speculation that the Creator, Revelator on Sinai, the God with no beginning and no end, the God of Israel whose Name is YHWH, has given a clue to His people regarding the culmination of all meaning and all life.  We figure that since He seems to work with significant numbers,  then “7” as in “sabbath” is the key for His people to  speculate that the 7th millennium might just be the end of the age.  And if so, what is expected to happen then?

 

The end of the world . . . the end of the age . . .the end of days . . . each of the three monotheistic world religions has a belief system about what to expect.  This post tackles that in connection with the issues of redemption and election, as explained in our MUST READ/MUST OWN resource: Who are the REAL Chosen People? – by Reuven Firestone. Reformating and highlights added.—Admin1]

 

 

 

Does Redemption require Election? 

 

The word redemption comes from the Latin redemptionem, meaning “a buying back, releasing, ransoming.” It means, literally, liberation by payment of a price or ransom. Just as one can redeem a debt by paying it off or redeem a slave by buying his or her freedom, religious meaning of redemption has a sense of ransoming from the inevitable bondage that results from sin.

This is not a neutral definition; it is a Christian definition.

 

Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists also have notions of redemption in their religious traditions and literatures, but their versions do not work out exactly the same way as the classical Christian perspective, for reasons that we will examine below.

 

English speakers sometimes have difficulty understanding these kinds of religious differences because the English language has become Christianized over the centuries during which Christianity has become literally or virtually the national religion of English speakers. Because we formulate our complex thinking in language, the nature of the language we speak tends to influence our way of thinking and perceiving the world around us.

 

You may have associates and friends fluent in English whose native tongues are Chinese or Japanese or Hindi, and you may find an occasional slight miscommunication. Yet they are fluent in English. The reason may be, simply, that the two languages’ subtle meanings for key terms or concepts are different enough to cause a “disconnect” in language. It may not be big enough to even notice explicitly, but in some cases may cause some real consternation or even a barrier for deep friendship.

 

As I indicated at the very beginning of this book, I find Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of the English Language particularly interesting because its American definitions are often so unabashedly Christian and its examples drawn from biblical sources. For a definition of redemption, Webster writes,

“The purchase of God’s favor by the death and sufferings of Christ; the ransom or deliverance of sinners from  the bondage of sin and the penalties of God’s violated law by the atonement of Christ. ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood’ Eph. 1:7.”

 

The full passage of the King James Version of the Bible from which Webster quotes is, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence” (Eph. 1:7-8).

 

The more contemporary Oxford Study Bible translation reads,

“In Christ our release is secured and our sins forgiven through the shedding of his blood. In the richness of his grace, God has lavished on us all wisdom and insight”.

 

Webster’s Dictionary does not define the meaning of redemption in either Judaism or Islam. 

 

Redemption has an English parallel in the word salvation, which also comes from the Latin.  Salvationem is a noun of action deriving from salvare, “to save.”

 

Our English word comes from the church Latin translation of the Greek, soteria, related to the Greek word soter, meaning “savior.”  Based on this word is an English term that is used to describe theologies of salvation: soteriology.

 

As in the definition of redemption, Webster’s definition of salvation has a strong Christian influence and does not define the meaning in Judaism or Islam:

“The redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him everlasting happiness. This is the great salvation.” 

 

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The Hebrew Bible: God as Redeemer 

 

Words that convey something like the English redemption and salvation also occur in biblical Hebrew, though the sense of saving from death or from sin is not operative there because the Christian notion of original sin is not found there directly.

 

A Hebrew term that is usually translated into English as “salvation” is the word yeshu’a, but that word describes the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians (Exod. 14:13) and of deliverance generally from evil or danger.

 

Two words for redemption are used in the Hebrew Bible, constructed from the verbs podeh and go’el. As in the origin of the Latin parallels, their meanings are derived from ordinary human affairs. Podeh refers to paying for something to be released from the possession of one person and secured in the possession of another. It is a simple transaction in which ownership is transferred from one party to another. The person who carries out the transaction is called the podeh. Anyone can be a podeh.

 

The same word takes on ritual significance because of the rule in the Bible that all the firstborn, whether animal or human, belong to God. Some of these firstborn can be redeemed with a payment, and all firstborn humans (who in theory belong to God) must be redeemed as well (Exod. 13:1-2; Num. 18:15).

 

To this day there is a a ritual ceremony among some Jews based on this requirement called pidyon haben or “redemption of the [firstborn] son.” The ritual takes place on the thirty-first day after birth, based on Numbers 15:16, and it is a simple one during which certain blessings are recited and five silver dollars (or other currency) are given to a Cohen, a male whose lineage derives from ancient priestly families.

 

The word go’el is similar, but is used in the Bible in the context of kinship responsibility. The go’el is the male next of kin who takes special responsibility in the clan to protect clan property, support widows or orphans, and redeem family members who have been reduced to slavery through poverty.

 

 

“If your kinsman is in straits and has to sell part of his holdings, his nearest [relative acting as] redeemer (go’el) shall come and redeem what his kinsman has sold” (Lev. 24:25).

 

In the Bible God is both podeh and go’el. The classic case of God as podeh is the divine redemption of the Israelite from the slavery of Egypt.

 

“Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you” (Deut. 15:15).

But God also delivers individuals from worldly adversity, as in 2 Samuel 4:9 and 2 Kings 1:29, where David acknowledges God’s role in redeeming him from all his adversities. 

 

The other word, go’el, is common in the biblical prophetic writings and Psalms to convey the intimate relationship between God and his people. The word conveys the sense of family, almost as if God and Israel are together in the same family and God is the loving and responsible head of the tribe.

 

The prophet Isaiah recites the following words of God within his prophecies of comfort,

“Fear not, O [little] worm Jacob, O men of Israel, I will help you, declares the Lord, your Redeemer (go’el), the Holy One of Israel” (Isa. 41:14).

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, their Redeemer (go’el), the Lord of Hosts, I am the first and I am the last, and there is no god but Me” (Isa. 44:4).

God is the redeemer of the orphan (Prov. 23:10-11) and of the persecuted (Job 23:25).

 

We need to keep in mind in our consideration of the Hebrew Bible that the notions of life after death or eternal salvation were not operative in ancient Israel, aside from the very end of the period represented by the end of the book of Daniel.

 

We have noted above that in Hebrew scripture God rewards and punishes on this earth rather than in a future world. The teachings about divine reward and punishment are articulated in group terms.

 

Our modern insistence on the rights and needs of the individual, sometimes even at the expense of the community, is not shared exactly in the Bible. It is true that individuals must be judged by the community for their own personal behaviors (Deut. 24:16), but the welfare of the community as a whole is determined in cosmic terms by its group behavior. Individual behaviors are judged by God as they are represented by the actions and conduct of the community as a whole. This requires that the individual take personal responsibility for the behavior of the group. The result is that the community of Israel as a whole is rewarded or punished.

 

This system is commendable ethically because it requires that individuals take full responsibility for the behaviors of the group. The problem with the system is that is seems impossible for the community as a whole to ever avoid divine retribution. No matter how much we try to behave ethically as a community, there will always be some individuals who will torpedo our best efforts.

 

Israel, therefore, often found itself punished with plague or conquest by foreign peoples, dispersed among the nations, downtrodden and unhappy. This unfortunate situation was considered to be God’s will, of course. It was also considered to be cleansing and purifying. The result was that a theology emerged in the Hebrew Bible teaching that a righteous remnant of the nation of Israel that remained true to the aspirations of monotheism would be redeemed, and along with it, the remainder of the world. 

 

Biblical notions of redemption, therefore, are for a future time on earth —

• when life will be happy and peaceful for the community:
• hunger will no longer exist,
• bloodshed within the community will end,
• and wars with other communities will cease.
• It is a time when everyone will “sit under their own vine and fig tree, with nothing to fear” (Mic. 4:4),
• and it will happen in this world rather than in any world to come.

There are many references to this future redemption, but the classic passage referring to such a future is Isaiah 65:17-25:

 

For behold! I am creating a new heaven and new earth. The former things shall not be remembered. They shall never come to mind. Be glad, then, and rejoice forever in what I am creating, for I shall create Jerusalem as a joy, and her people as a delight. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in her people. Never again shall be heard there the sounds of weeping and wailing. No more shall there be an infant or graybeard who does not live out his days. He who dies at a hundred years shall be reckoned a youth, and he who fails to reach a hundred shall be reckoned a youth, and he who fails to reach a hundred shall be reckoned accursed. They shall build houses and dwell in them. They shall plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit. They shall not build for others to dwell in, or plan for others to enjoy. For the days of My people shall be as long as the days of a tree, My chosen ones shall outlive the work of their hands. They shall not toil without purpose; they shall not bear children for terror, but they shall be a people blessed by the Lord and their offspring shall remain with them. Before they pray, I will answer. While they are still speaking, I will respond. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the serpent’s food shall be earth. In all My sacred mount nothing evil or vile shall be done.

 

This moving aspiration for a future earthly redemption is articulated first and foremost in terms of the nation of Israel. This should not be surprising, given the national nature of religion in the ancient Near East and the fact that only Israel was monotheistic at that time.

 

The future is articulated in reference to the past, so in the Hebrew Bible there is great aspiration for a time in which God will bring a final and great redemption for Israel,  just as God redeemed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

 

 

“Assuredly, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when it shall no more be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought the Israelite out of the land of Egypt,’ but rather,’ As the Lord lives, who brought out and led the offspring of the House of Israel from the northland and from all the lands to which I have banished them.’ And they shall dwell upon their own soil” (Jer. 23:7-8).

 

Just as the redemption from Egypt was wrought through violence and destruction of Israel’s Egyptian enemy, so too will the final redemption include the destruction of Israel’s current and future enemies.

 

The references are many and they are not all consistent, but the general thrust is clear:

• Israel’s enemies will be crushed
• while Israel will be restored to its privileged state.
• In the final redemption at the End of Days, the Children of Israel will be gathered together from the four corners of the earth (Isa. 11:12),
• the redeemed Israelite will experience everlasting joy (Isa. 51:11),
• the kings of the nations will come to realize that they erred in their brutal treatment of Israel (Isa. 52:13-53:5),
• the Jerusalem Temple will be rebuilt (Ezek. 40),
• the ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezek. 16:55),
• and all Israel will know God’s teachings (Jer. 31:33).

 

Although the joy and happiness of God’s redemption is centered on the one community of believers that recognize the One Great God, the entire world will also benefit.

• The false idols worshipped by the nations will disappear
• and only the One Great God will be worshipped (Isa. 2:17-18)

–remember that these texts emerged before any other forms of monotheism existed—

• evil and tyranny will be overcome (Isa. 11:4),
• weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezek. 39:9),
• the many nations will voluntarily come streaming to the mountain of God’s house in Jerusalem (Mic. 4:1-2),
• war will cease (Isa. 2:4),
• and all humanity will live without fear (Mic. 4:4).

 

 Keep in mind that it is not required that all humanity become Israel. In today’s terms, that means that not all are required to become Jewish. They will simply realize the truth of monotheism.

 

And here is a critical distinction.  All humanity will recognize the unity of God as a result of the final redemption, not as a prerequisite for it. This reflects the nonexistence of mission in the Hebrew Bible.

 

Humanity will eventually come around to realizing the unity of God of its own accord. That realization of monotheism is paired organically with ethics, according to the Bible.

 

The rules for—

• providing for the poor and the stranger,
• demanding respect for parents,
• requiring just weights and measures
• and fair judgment in courts of law,
• forbidding fraud and robbery and taking vengeance,

——are all followed by the phrase,“I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19).

 

The One Great God is simultaneously God of judgment and God of mercy, but never God of whim or caprice or fancy.  The God of the Hebrew Bible insists on ethical behavior and compassion to the needy.

 

True monotheists, therefore, must always aspire to these noble behaviors. There is a direct link between human behavior and reward or punishment.

 

Redemption is closely associated with the messianic hope. But in the Hebrew Bible, the messiah is a symbol of redemption rather than the bringer of redemption.

 

The Hebrew word for “messiah,” mashiach, means, “anointed one.” Anointing or rubbing the head or skin with oil was a way to heal damaged skin, treat wounds, or simply moisten chapped skin (Isa. 1:6; Amos 6:6). The Hebrew word for ointment, mishchah, comes from the same root. Oil was a valuable commodity during biblical times, and expensive to produce. Its pleasant nature and high value probably made it a logical sign of office, so anointing became a symbol for inducting—

• priests (Exod. 28:41),
• kings (1 Sam. 10:1),
• and prophets (1 Kings 19:16).

All of these are servants of God in the Hebrew Bible. They all have a role in ensuring that the people act out the divine will.

 

Only God, however, will bring the final redemption.

• That final act will include the coming of a righteous Israelite king from the line of David (Jer. 23:5-6),
• but that messianic king will not bring the redemption himself.

Even in the most mystical references to the symbols associated with the birth of a future Davidic ruler, the messianic king and God are separate entities: “The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall bring this to pass” (Isa. 9:1-6).

 

 

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The New Testament: Jesus as Redemptive Messiah

 

Redemption is understood rather differently in the New Testament, which understands that the messiah is both human and God the Redeemer.

 

The word Christ is a Greek translation of the Hebrew mashiach (anointed one). Christos is the actual term for mashiach used by the Jewish translators of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek version called the Septuagint that was translated some two centuries before the birth of Jesus, roughly during the second century BCE. In the Septuagint translation, each of the thirty-nine appearances of the Hebrew mashiach is rendered as christos.

 

The Greek and the Hebrew have exactly the same meaning there: anyone who is anointed with oil. Later, as Christianity emerged in the first century CE, Jesus was recognized as the anointed one who was also the incarnation of God. In Christian usage, and when referring to Jesus, Messiah is capitalized as a reference to God in human form.

 

In the Gospel of John, when Andrew meets Jesus, “the first thing he did was to find his brother Simon and sat to him ‘We have found the Messiah’” (John 2:41). According to the Gospel of John, that Messiah is God, as articulated through the mystical introduction in which the Word of God, which is God, became flesh (John 1:1-14). Later it in the same Gospel, Jesus is represented as one with the Father (John 10:37-38, 14:7-11, 17:5,11), which most Christians understand to mean that Jesus is God.

 

 

In the New Testament, therefore, Jesus, as both Messiah and God, is the bringer of redemption. Jesus himself is the divine Redeemer. He is understood to embody the fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible prophecies and paradigms, such as

• the suffering of Israel (Isa. 52:12-53:13),
• atonement for sin through sacrifice (Lev. 4, 5, 17:11),
• and the coming of God the Redeemer (Isa. 49:7, 59:20).

 

The prophecies of the Hebrew Bible thus become harbingers of Jesus to Christians and also become realized through the birth, mission, and passion of Christ. But Jesus died before a final divinely wrought redemption took place, so it is understood that the final redemption will occur at a future time in relation to Jesus’s return as the redemptive Messiah, Christ the Redeemer. This is known in Greek as the Parousia, the “Second Coming of Christ.” 

 

There is a wide range of belief among Christian about what will occur in the process of that final divine redemption, but most agree that—

• there will be a period of tribulation thorough which believers will experience worldwide persecution and be purified and strengthened by it, based on Matthew 24:15-22, Mark 13:14-20, and Luke 21:20-33.
• Most Christians also believe that Jesus Christ the Redeemer will return in the Second Coming after that tribulation, based on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4.
• There will be a rapture, in which believers will be united with Jesus in heaven (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
• There will also be a millennium, meaning a thousand-year period that will herald the imminent end of the world:

 

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, the he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while…And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth” (Rev. 20:1-3, 7-8).

 

There are a number of differences among Christians beliefs over the order of events and the nature of the millennium described in the book of Revelation. This is an issue especially for conservative Protestants, whose different positions are sometimes identified as—

• postmillennialism,
• amillennialism,
• and premillenialism.

We are not concerned with the details here, but with the results. Who will benefit from the final redemption that will be brought about by the Second Coming?

 

As in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament stresses the redemption of the community of believers.

• In some passages, only those who believe and are baptized will be saved, “but he who does not believe shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
• Other passages would extend the benefits to those outside the immediate community of believers, “for all alike have sinned and are deprived of the divine glory; and all are justified by God’s free grace alone, through His act of liberation in the person Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24).
• “The universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and is to enter upon the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).

 

Jesus’s crucifixion in the New Testament is a redemptive sacrifice reminiscent of the redemptive sacrifices called the “guilt offerings” and “sin offerings” of Leviticus chapters 4 and 5. But as we have noted in the case of “merit of the ancestors,” the redemption through Jesus’ merit and sacrifice is far greater than the redemption from the sacrificial offerings found in the Hebrew Bible.

 

Jesus gave his life “as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, Matt. 20:28). Some commentators have noted that “many” does not necessarily imply any kind of restriction, but the universal nature of this reception is stressed in some passages of the New Testament, such as 1 Timothy 2:5-6:

 

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus, himself man, who sacrificed himself to win freedom for all mankind, revealing God’s purpose at God’s good time.”

 

This sentiment is clear also in Acts 10:34-35:

 

 

“Peter began: ‘I now understand how it is that God has no favorites, but that in every nation those who are God-fearing and do what is right are acceptable to Him.”

 

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Apocalyptic Revelation in the Qur’an 

 

The Qur’an also contains references to sacrifice. We have already considered the Intended Sacrifice of Abraham’s son. Sacrifice in the Qur’an, however,  is a minor motif in general, and aside from the story of the near-sacrifice of Abraham’s son, there is little emphasis on any redemptive nature of sacrifice. There are, however, a great number of references to the End of Days.

 

The Qur’an has a number of terms that relate to specific aspects of the End of Days, including —

• the Last Day (al-yawm al-akhir),
• Day of Judgment (yawn al-din),
• and Day of Resurrection (yawn al-qiyama).

As within the ancient Near Eastern culture of the Hebrew Bible, the indigenous people of Arabia to whom Muhammad preached seem not to have been familiar with a concept of an afterlife. The revelation that Muhammad received had to emphasize the notion and repeat it in variety of ways in order to teach them the meaning of divine judgment and reward and punishment in the next world.

 

Some have likened the entire Qur’an to an apocalyptic revelation because apocalyptic images are so prominent in it. The Qur’an is not organized chronologically or topically however, so these many references occur throughout the scripture. Because they reflect a series of revelations that were given to Muhammad over some twenty-two years, they may appear at first to be somewhat inconsistent. Nevertheless, certain trends begin to emerge that may be summarized here. 

 

• 

  Image from www.themuslimtimes.org

  The End of Days will arrive amid great disruptions in the natural order of things.

• The earth will convulse and shake (Qur’an 99),
• and the heavens will be split in two (82) and be rolled up:

“When the sun is darkened, and when the stars fall, and the mountains are set moving, and when the camels are neglected, when the wild beasts are herded, and when the oceans are flooded, when souls are reunited, and when the infant girl that was buried [alive] is asked for what sin she was killed , when the pages are laid open and when the sky is stripped, when the Fire is ignited and when the Garden in drawn near, every soul will know what it has brought about” (81:1-14).

• Gog and Magog will be released (18:94),
• God will bring forth a beast from the center of the earth who will speak (27:82),
• and a trumpet or horn will sound
• and the dead will be called out form their graves for judgment (27:87, 36:51).

There is a clear demarcation between heaven (often referred to as al-janna, the “Garden”) and hell (jahannum or al-nar, the “Fire”). Those who enter paradise are–

• people who recognized God’s signs,
• while those who reject them will experience eternal hellfire.

 

Recognizing the signs of God is an idiom in the Qur’an for —

• acknowledging the truth of monotheism,
• and this recognition includes more that simple faith.
• It includes engaging in righteous behavior,
• acting with integrity,
• doing good works,
• and praying to God.

 

Rejecting God’s signs is —

• to deny God,
• lack humility,
• engage in evil behaviors,
• and scoff at the notion of a final judgment.

 

Behavior is thus built into the notion of the recognition of the signs of God (7:35-58).

 

There is a strong view of resurrection in the Qur’an, and a detailed description of it can be found in chapter 39, verses 67-75 (and elsewhere). It includes—

• a blowing of the trumpet (74:8)
• and the return of all dead to life,
• the gathering for judgment (6:38, 42:29)
• when everyone’s personal book of behavior will be laid open (17:13-14, 52:2-3),
• their deeds will be weighed on the scales of justice (7:8-9, 21:47),
• and all God’s creatures will bear witness against themselves (6:130).
• The result will then be entrance into heaven or hell.
• In some passages, the judgment brings eternal damnation or salvation (4:169, 10:52, 25:15).
• In others, the time in hell is unspecified, so later Islamic writings disagreed over whether the punishment of damnation is eternal.

 

We noted how the notion of salvation in the English language is strongly influenced by Christian theology, and that an exact equivalent for the word does not exist in the Hebrew Bible. Neither is it found in the Qur’an, but other words convey similar ideas.

 

 

• One is the term al-fawz al-azim (supreme success):

“Whoever obeys God and His messenger will be entered into the Garden under which rivers flow, abiding there forever. That is the supreme success” (4:13).

“God promises the believers, men and women, Gardens under which rivers flow, abiding there forever, pleasant dwelling is the Gardens of Eden—God’s favor is best. This is the supreme success” (9:72).

Believers are therefore “the successful” (9:20).

 

Another term with a meaning similar to al-fawz al-azim is muflilun (the successful).

 

 

• On the day God will call to them,
• those who have repented, believed, and done righteous will be successful (28:67).
• They are a community that calls to the good,
• demanding good deeds and forbidding evil (2:104),
• who follow the light that has been sent down (7:157),
• and who seek God’s countenance (30:38).
• God is pleased with them;
• they are the party of God (hizbullah)
• and will be brought into Gardens under which rivers flow, abiding there forever (59:22).

 

 

These descriptions apply most directly to the followers of divine revelation as articulated by his prophet Muhammad, but these are not only ones who will be favored by God.

 

According to the Qur’an, God saved all of his prophets. All these prophets besides Muhammad lived long before the Qur’an was revealed, and they include Abraham, Jonah, Moses, and Lot, along with others that are not known from the Bible. One such prophet is Hud, about whom the Qur’an mentions,

 

 

“We saved him and those with him by a mercy from Us, but We cut off the root of those who denied Our signs and were not believers” (7:72).

 

Other prophets that God saved along with the righteous among their people are Salih (11:66) and Shu’ayb (11:95). Even the wife of the evil Pharaoh was saved by her belief:

 

“God made an example with the wife of Pharaoh for those who believe, when she said, ‘My Lord, build me a house in Your presence in the Garden and save me from Pharaoh and his acts. Deliver me from the evil nation” (66:11).

 

This example and other verses extend redemption and salvation to righteous believers who are not official Muslims but who practice the same kind of ethical monotheism in their daily lives that is taught by Islam.

 

The heavy Qur’anic emphasis on redemption, judgment, and reward and punishment in an afterlife, and the varied language and images in these passages, have been read in a variety of ways by Muslim scholars. Some have come away from them with the belief that only those who follow God as articulated by the specific teachings of the Qur’an and the prophet Muhammad are entitled entry into heaven. Other learned scholars have understood the Qur’an to teach that anyone who does good works and believes in God and divine judgment merits entrance into paradise. Sometimes the same scriptural verses are cited to support both positions. 

 

 

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This phenomenon of inclusive redemption that extends beyond the immediate the immediate community of believers is common to all three families of monotheism.

 

In each case, scripture associates redemption first with the community of believers who have dedicated their lives and often suffered in their loyalty to their religion. Recall the scripture reflects the earliest historical period of merging religions when the believers suffered the most for their faithfulness and devotion to God and the emerging religious system. It is logical and reasonable for the authoritative core of the religious system to promise rewards for such dedicated allegiance and faithful devotion.

 

In each scripture, however, there is  also room for redemption or salvation for those who do not belong to the specific religious community. There is room in each to extend redemption beyond membership in the chosen community of God. 

 

The religious literatures that emerged to interpret scripture in the generations following the revelations sometimes expanded the pool of those available to redemption. Sometimes they narrowed it.

 

These are the interpretive literatures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and they were always deeply influenced by the historical periods in which they were written.

 

As usual, when the religious thinkers whose views are represented in them lived in a world of scarcity and competition and when life was difficult, they tended to narrow their view of those worthy of redemption. But when they lived in a world of plenty when life was good, they tended to be more generous in their assessment of those worthy of salvation. Perhaps it was God’s design that every case of scriptural revelation allows for generosity or parsimoniousness.