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Salvation in the Exodus Narrative: Reading Exodus through a Compositional Strategy of the Pentateuch and Its Implication for Christian Understanding

Kiyoung Kim 1

1한국침례신학대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study explores the concept of salvation in the Exodus event and its implication for Christian belief based on the Pentateuch’s compositional strategy. The subject of salvation in Christian belief is often based on the New Testament or systematic theological agenda. Yet, the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch, could contribute to shaping the Christian understanding of salvation. To discuss the suggested task, this study looks for the appropriate text, the Exodus story. Second, this research explains the contents of God’s salvific acts in the story and further discusses the meaning of salvation from the Pentateuch’s compositional strategy. Third, the essay synthesizes the study’s findings and compares them to the New Testament’s explanation of the subject of salvation. The study explains the meaning of salvation in the Pentateuch as follows: people who served other gods in the alien land are relocated to the land of Yhwh’s sanctuary by the grace of Yhwh and serve the Lord. Further, the Pentateuch’s compositional strategy persuades that one should perceive the event of Exodus as a part of God’s ultimate vision for the salvation of humanity and his passion for presiding over the lives of the saved people by requiring their holiness. This essay reveals that the outcome of the research is essentially no different from the New Testament’s message of salvation. The particular contribution of this essay is first to reveal the message of salvation from the Pentateuch’s own words and then confirm the echoes in the New Testament. Thus, concerning Christian understanding of the concept of salvation, this methodology could assist readers in understanding the Pentateuch’s own teaching without conflict.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.