The idea to write this book arose a few years ago when, during my participation in a previous publishing project, I was faced with the task of explaining how God accomplished salvation in Jesus Christ; I realised, to my surprise, that every attempt at an explanation was based on shaky theories and unconvincing assumptions. The Bible says that “Christ died for our sins”, but have you ever wondered why our sins should require his death? Couldn't God just forgive, without the need to shed innocent blood? Or what does it mean that “He gave his life as a ransom for many”? These seemed like trivial questions, and I imagined that two thousand years of theological argumentation would provide comprehensive answers, but the more I investigated official theology, the less convinced I became of the validity of what was presented. The explanations given did not always seem to be compatible with what Jesus preached and were often only supported by a handful of biblical verses, the interpretation of which was not harmonised with the rest of the Scriptures.
I, therefore, decided to study the theories of salvation that had marked the history of Christian theology and, surprisingly, I found that there were many theories, extremely different from one another; moreover, especially those accepted by Western theologies are relatively recent and not rooted in the Christian tradition of the first centuries, but in philosophies and doctrines that emerged at the beginning of the second millennium.
I had to understand more, and for this reason I began to examine every possible source: from the texts of the ancient Fathers of the Church, to the most recent authors, dozens of books, hundreds of articles and papers produced and published in every age; and the Bible of course, in its authentic language, however, Hebrew and Greek, in order to trace the origin of the words used and thus reconstruct some of the meanings lost in later translations. The more I researched, the clearer my view of salvation became, so much so that an outline of this preface written a year ago is now trashed as no longer reflecting the startling revelations I came across. In particular, the deeper I delved into the biblical text, the more Jewish concepts emerged that had been lost due to the cultural gap over the centuries. I seemed to see the Holy Scriptures renewed and enlivened, as I was rediscovering their profound meaning before the distortions wrought on Christian thought by Greek philosophy and other pagan ideas. Above all, the words of Jesus, in their simplicity and clarity, now took on a new weight and vigour that turned upside down many of the concepts I had thought unquestionable.
But it was not just research, because this book is also the culmination of 14 years of Christian experience in many countries of the world; in several European countries, in Africa, South America, the Middle East and Asia, where I came into contact and in some cases collaborated with different Christian churches, as well as getting to know an incredible variety of other religions and cults. My open-minded approach and tendency to explore has led me to become interested in spirituality from a very young age, collecting experiences in different areas, before coming at the personal encounter with Jesus that changed the course of my life. Despite my many experiences, or perhaps because of them, I do not currently adhere to any specific Christian denomination. Consequently, I have no particular interest or theology to defend, no job to preserve, or an exclusive Church to promote; I consider all those who have a heart faithful to Jesus, regardless of their religious label, to be brothers and sisters in Christ.
Because of my freedom of expression, some of the things I have written may not please some people but, as I have said, I have no other intention than to share as much as possible what I have learned and experienced, whether this is successful or not. I hope, however, that the reader may appreciate and benefit from the revelations contained in this book, as I myself have benefited, rediscovering the merciful God who ceaselessly calls us to reconcile with him in order to give us the full life prepared for us.
The book is organised in three sections. In the first section I will set out the historical research on theories of salvation; I imagine that not everyone is interested in the history of theology, but I urge the reader not to overlook this section, as it provides an indispensable framework for understanding how the theory has evolved, taking different forms over the centuries until the present day. In the second section we will deal with some essential theological foundations, bringing to light interesting revelations regarding the incarnation, forgiveness, grace, sin, faith, the new covenant, the meaning of the Jewish sacrifices, and the idea of eternal life. In the third and final section, we will finally deepen the reality of the Trinity and come up with a (not so) new theory of salvation, which we will call Vital Identification, explaining why God's love is the origin, foundation and ultimate goal of the work of salvation accomplished in Jesus Christ.