“Tened ánimo, yo he vencido al mundo”. La experiencia cristiana de la salvación

Abstract

In the Christian Faith, the salvation of Man is ultimately revealed and offered in Jesus of Nazareth, and it is also the outcome of the relationship between God and mankind throughout history, a relationship more precisely fulfilled in the history of the Israelites. This article is aimed at organizing the elements and the dimension of the salvation experience suggested by the Church by means of a text that has been both recounted and unmistakably regarded as the suitable ground for an encounter with the aforesaid salvation experience. For this purpose the verse Jn 16:33, and most particularly its last statement (Take heart! I have overcome the world), has been chosen as the framework upon which the whole reflection of this study is developed. Two main ideas build the frame of the discussion i.e. the overcoming of the finite nature of all worldly concern and secondly, the fact that our violent essence, which is a constant feature in the history of mankind, is eventually subdued. On the other hand, the soteriological thesis put forward here is set on the two pillars of one's faith, which are not to be avoided: firstly the notion that salvation takes place in Jesus' history itself and in the second place, the fact that it also reveals itself as the manifestation of the Holy Trinity. Thus, the above-stated biblical text combines and revolves around the main statements of the various soteriological models rendered in the New Testament.