1. Starting from a common place
Did you know that salvation is a metaphor? At first, it is scary to read that salvation is a metaphor, because we tend to understand metaphor as something that happens in our mind or as a mere use of language to create some artistic effect as authors of literature usually do.
But metaphor is a strategy of our mind, and it is part of language so that we communicate better with others, in order to transmit information and people understand what we are saying.
Metaphors are widely used, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament to develop theology. The apostle Paul was one of those who used metaphors the most. In the passage from Colossians 1:13, he uses two metaphors. The first is a spatial metaphor. The second I will call a theological metaphor, that of the new exodus[1]. This second metaphor is grounded in the spatial metaphor.
2. Getting out of the common place
2.1 Exegetical considerations
ὃς ἐρρύσατο ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους καὶ μετέστησεν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ, (Col. 1:13)
He has rescued us from the danger of the power of darkness and carried us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love (adapted from ARC)
The preposition ἐκ (from) has the spatial sense of perceiving an object that is inside an enclosed place and is leaving that place by distancing itself from it. By using the prepositional syntagm with words in the genitive case (ἐκ τῆς ἐξουσίας, “from the power of darkness”), Paul expresses that the Colossians were within the power of darkness and were rescued from there by moving away from this place. In this way, Paul metaphorizes evil or sin as being inside a place, trapped in it. Salvation, on the other hand, means to get out of this place by being distanced further and further from that place.
This prepositional syntagm (ἐκ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους) serves to specify the main verb (ἐρρύσατο) by providing details about the action performed by God (ὃς, “who”, refers to God, described in the previous verse).
The main verb “rescue” (ἐρρύσατο), which is in the aorist indicative. Indicative means assertion; that is: 1. The speaker has the expectation that his readers know what is being reported or 2. The readers, already knowing the information, take it for granted (backgroundedness).
By using the aorist, Paul presents the information in a distanced way in order to lead the reader to perceive it as a concrete fact, as something realized and objective, although physically distant from the readers, being, therefore, part of the memory of the knowledge of the apostle and his readers.
In short, the aorist indicative, distanced assertion, creates the sense effect of objectivity of the events narrated. Paul narrates salvation as a concrete fact accomplished by God through Jesus.
2.2 Salvation as metaphor
Metaphor consists of expressing or interpreting one thing in terms of another, usually starting from the easy to the difficult, from the concrete to the abstract, from the known to the unknown.
We use metaphor in our day to make others understand us. This is the main function of metaphor: to enter into interaction with others, to make them understand us. In this way, when I use metaphor, I aim in my use of language to make others understand what I am talking about.
The metaphor then starts from a world knowledge of experience, of a specific situation, that is shared between the people who are in interaction. For this reason, metaphors are associated with the specific cultures of a particular language use. Metaphor, therefore, is not just a stylistic usage as in literature. But it is the way in which we communicate. And more: it is the way in which we think. Metaphor is part of our very thinking.
In Colossians 1:13, a spatial metaphor is observed. Spatial metaphor is based on the most basic experience of reality, which is the notion of space. We all orient ourselves in space. It is not a created thing of our mind but is organized in the very structure external to our mind, as we perceive how objects and people are arranged in certain positions and how we ourselves move from one place to another.
In the passage under review, there is the metaphor of salvation as leaving one place and being taken to another. This most basic metaphor in the sense that it is the explanation for the creation of the New Exodus metaphor.
This helps us realize, among other things, that the development of a theology or some doctrine does not happen simply by a theoretical abstraction. Rather, the authors of the New Testament used metaphors for the elaboration of certain doctrines. An example of this, without going into detail, is how Paul uses creation to speak of salvation in terms of new creation. The apostle uses expressions such as “new man” (new humanity), “new life”, “new creature”. All these expressions are based on the creation referred to in Genesis, so that Jesus inaugurates New Creation.
In Colossians 1:13, salvation is metaphorized in spatial terms. We are moved from one place to another place. The concrete idea of space helps us understand the abstract meaning of salvation. Salvation means to be moved from one place to another. Specifically, to be moved from the empire of darkness to the empire of the kingdom of the son of God.
2.3 Salvation as a New Exodus
The Exodus of Israel in the Old Testament is one of the most well-known narratives. But not only that. This narrative of the deliverance of the people of Israel is used by the apostle Paul. To develop his theology of creation. Or of the new creation. Paul uses the Israelite exodus to elaborate the theology of salvation in terms of leaving one place and being taken to another. The text, he uses the expression get out. Empire of darkness, being delivered from the Empire of darkness and then being transported into the Empire of the son of God.
3. Getting somewhere with metaphors
Theology is done with metaphors within the concrete situations of a people’s culture and language. Paul uses Old Testament knowledge to create the foundation from which he develops his New Exodus theology. The theology of the New Exodus can be seen in the prophet Isaiah and in Mark’s gospel.
Through metaphors we better understand virtual concepts such as salvation from the common experience of the notion of space. We have bodies that are limited and oriented by spatial relations. The theology of the New Exodus has as its foundation the spatial metaphor of BEING DISPLACED FROM ONE PLACE AND TAKEN TO ANOTHER. In fact, this is one of the most virtual senses of what salvation is.
[1] I am not talking here about New Exodus as something new being authored by me. In the theological literature, this theme is explored quite a bit. What is new in what I present is the spatial metaphor (found in cognitive linguistics), which is the virtual basis of the New Exodus metaphor.