Baldwin on Salvation

From the ages of 14 to 17, the writer James Baldwin served as a Pentecostal preacher. However, when he witnessed the chasm between Jesus’ teachings and so much of Christian behavior, he left organized religion. He not only left the church professionally, he left the Christian faith, only identifying himself from this point forward as a writer.

Baldwin left the church because of the way it separated people into haves and have-nots, black and white, saved and transgressors; and, because of its complicity with slavery, segregation, and apartheid.

And yet, in the last year of his life, Baldwin painted a beautiful picture of salvation in his essay, “To Crush A Serpent”. Baldwin writes:

Salvation is not flight from the wrath of God; it is accepting and reciprocating the love of God. Salvation is not separation. It is the beginning of union with all that is or has been or will ever be… There is absolutely no salvation without love: this is the wheel in the middle of the wheel. Salvation does not divide. Salvation connects, so that one sees oneself in others and others in oneself.

 Jesus taught this same understanding of salvation when he called on people to love neighbor as self and to even love the one labeled enemy.

May we find the true meaning of salvation, as we seek to live in union with God, ourselves, and all of our neighbors.