Who, Then, Can Be Saved?
By Jonathan Mitchell
Some Thoughts and Observations on Mark 10:25-31
Jesus was on the road when He was met by a rich man who came to Him and asked what he needed to do in order to inherit eonian Life. Jesus cited some of the commandments from the Law, and the man answered that he had kept them all since his youth. In Mk. 10:21 we read:
"Now Jesus, looking at him and seeing within him, LOVES (accepts and urges toward reunion with) him, and so said to him, 'You yourself continue behind, and are thus lacking and coming short in, one thing. Withdraw (or: Go off) and progressively bring things under control. At once sell as many things as you continue holding (possessing; having), then at once give to the poor and destitute folks - and you will continue holding (possessing; having) stored up treasure within heaven (or: in [your] atmosphere)! After that, come here and be habitually following with Me.'"
We will pick up the narrative in vs. 25 where Jesus is now speaking with His disciples...
25. "It continues being easier for a camel to pass through the midst of a needle's perforation (or: eye; hole bored or worn-through) than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God (God's sovereign reign and activities).
Jesus often used hyperbole when making a point. The text of 24a, above, vs. 26, below, reveal the shock that His words had upon the disciples. The difficult situations that rich people will encounter - such as with the rich man in vss. 17-22, above - seem impossible to overcome. Jesus' metaphor is daunting...
26. "So they began being exceedingly struck out of their wits, being overwhelmed with bewilderment, saying to Him [other MSS: to one another], "So who is able (or: So is any one [of them] with power) to be saved (rescued; delivered; made healthy and whole)?!"
Jesus' discourse has struck deeply into their minds and it is beyond their wits to comprehend the predicament that He had just presented to them. His words were effective, for we see that they took His disciples to the crux of the human situation, and there seems to be no solution.
Their question is put very simply, but what did they mean by the phrase, "be saved"? They used the phrase in response to Jesus' reference, "to enter into the kingdom of God." That begs the question: What did Jesus mean by this phrase? His discourse was tied to the rich man's question about inheriting eonian life. These three concepts are related to each other, and entwined by this discussion to show us that they are, roughly speaking, the same thing.
Being saved means being "rescued" from a dangerous situation, or from a bad condition. It can mean being "delivered" from prison, slavery or death. It can refer to being "made healthy and whole." It means being "saved" from all the negative aspects of the human predicament that was caused by Adam's disobedience (cf Rom. 5:12-21). A person is "saved" when they "enter into God's reign." God's reign (or: kingdom; sovereign influence and actions) is the realm, sphere, source and condition of "eonian life." Jesus gave us a picture of this in Jn. 15:1ff, which is that of a branch being "joined" to Him (the Vine). It is really all very simple. We are rescued (resurrected; given birth) from the womb of Death (Eph. 2:1) and are transferred into the Life of Christ, which is metaphorically described as "the kingdom and reign of the Son of His love" (Col. 1:13). In 2 Cor. 3:9, Paul described all of this as,
"the attending service and the dispensing of the eschatological deliverance into fairness and equity in rightwised relationships (or: righteousness from covenantal inclusion: that which corresponds to the Way pointed out, and which turns us in the right direction)."
It involves entering into the new Age of the Messiah and being joined into the new covenant arrangement.
But like the rich man asked Jesus, what must, or can, we do to attain to this? Well, Jesus simply responds...
27. Upon looking at and within them, Jesus then is saying, "On the side of humans (or: With people) [it is] impossible, but on the other hand, not on the side of God (or: not with God), for all things [are] possible at God's side (or: everything is able [to happen] with God)."
Yes, as we say in our day, "The ball is in God's court." God must do all that needs to be done, and He did it, in Jesus the Messiah. You see,
"God was existing within Christ (God was and continued being centered in, and in union with [the] Anointed One) progressively and completely transforming [the] aggregate of humanity (or: world) to be other [than it is] in Himself, to Himself, for Himself, by Himself and with Himself, not accounting to them (not putting to their account; not logically considering for them; not reasoning in them) the results and effects of their falls to the side (their trespasses and offenses)..." (2 Cor. 5:19).
It is put this way, in Eph. 2:10,
"For the fact is, we are (continually exist being) the effect of what He did (or: His creation; the thing He has constructed; the result of His work; His achievement; His opus; the effect of His Deed): people being founded from a state of disorder and wildness (being framed, built, settledand created; being changed from chaos to order), within and in union with Christ Jesus."
28. Peter began to speak his thoughts to Him, "Look (or: Take into consideration), we ourselves at once abandoned everything and have followed You!"
Peter is apparently reaching back to what Jesus told the rich man, in vs. 21a, above. He is virtually saying, "We have done what you told the rich man to do..." Was he intimating that he and the rest now qualified for eonian life, the kingdom, and being saved?
30. "who would (or: may; should) not get (or: receive) one hundred times as much now (at the present time) - within this appointed season (or: fitting situation): houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields (farms; lands; estates), along with their pursuits (or: with the effects and results of hurry, rapid motion and pressing after [things]; or: accompanied by persecutions), then, within the progressively coming age, Life pertaining to that Age (or: eonian life; life which has the qualities and character of the Age [of Messiah]; life whose source is the Age; life of and for the ages).
We do not read Peter as asking for a reward or for payment, but as stated above, for inclusion in the kingdom. With this in mind, we should not interpret the gratuity that Jesus promised, in vs. 30, as pertaining to natural houses, families or fields/estates. The point of Jesus' call to follow Him involved leaving all those things behind - not following Him in order to get more of the same!
The next phrase, in vs. 30, has both a neutral and a negative meaning. I included the negative one, as a potential reading, "accompanied by persecutions," but we feel that the neutral reading better fits the flow of what He is saying: "along with their pursuits (or: with the effects and results of hurry, rapid motion and pressing after [things]." Call to mind what Paul said,
"I am continuously pressing forward, pursuing down toward [the; or: an] object in view (a mark on which the eye is fixed): into the awarded contest prize of God's (or: the award which is God's) invitation to an above place (or: the prize from, and which is, the upward calling from, and which is, the God) within the midst of and in union with Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).
The "progressively coming age" was the one that Jesus was right then inaugurating, and was on full display in Jerusalem, following His resurrection (cf Acts 2ff). The "houses" that they would receive would be first of all His Father's House (the Temple) in which there were many dwelling places (Jn. 14"2-6), and then there would be the "houses" that comprised the called-out, covenant communities. And who were designated as Jesus' family? Mat. 12:50 gives us His answer:
"You see, whoever may be doing the will, intent, purpose and desire of My Father - the One within and in union with [the] heavens (or: in the midst of [the] atmospheres) - that very person is My brother and sister and mother."
These are the families that His followers would receive. The "fields (farms; lands; estates)" He described in Mat. 13:38,
"Now the field is the organized System (the ordered arrangement; the world of religion, economy, culture and government; = the realm of society; or: the aggregate of humanity)."
The fields would be those people into whom they cast the Seed of Life, the creative Logos that is God.
There was an "appointed season (or: fitting situation)" which began with the birth of Jesus and continued on through that generation, until AD 70, with the destruction of Jerusalem. That season, and fitting situation, was a period of transition from the old age of the Law, into the coming Age of the Messiah - of which Jesus was the Beginning, and in which we now live. They experienced, and we still enjoy, the resurrection Life pertaining to that Age." Jesus taught them:
"I, Myself, come so that they can progressively possess (would continuously have; could habitually hold) Life, and may continue possessing [it] in superabundance (or: and may have a surplus surrounding them in excessive amounts)" (Jn. 10:10b).
31. "Yet many first ones will proceed being last ones, and the last ones first ones (or: there are many [who are] first who will be existing last; and those last [who will be existing] first)."
Reversals seems to be a common ingredient to the kingdom; the Jews had been "in first place" and the good news came to them first; still, first and last describe a whole - all are included.
Jonathan
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