IN CHRIST, THE LIVING US
24/03/24 09:02
For many Believers, ‘working out your salvation with fear and trembling’ can mean a gospel of works. This fits our style well if we are working from ‘contract and formula’ to attain our grace and salvation and is surely why there are Christians who find too much grace offensive in that it detracts for them, from their imagined entitlement. It’s why and why others may prefer their formulaic law construct to holiness made ours from atonement/incarnation. Theirs’ is the spiritual equivalent of ‘I did it my way’. But Christ graces us with His righteousness and His life.
JESUS JUSTIFICATION/SANCTIFICATION
Alexandra Radcliff writes, “This rooting of sanctification with justification is a significant aspect of the Torrances’ soteriology. What holds the two together is the vicarious humanity of Christ. For the Torrances, the vicarious humanity of Christ means that “Christ takes our place and represents us, so that what is true of him is true of us, and what he did in his (our) humanity is ours.”603 This is what they believe is expressed by Jesus’s assertion, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified” (John 17:19). They also believe it to be indicative in Paul’s claim that Christ “became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (1 Cor 1:30). (1)
CHRIST IS OUR LIFE
This is why our Christ-life is grace, peace and transformation and neither a wizened formulaic earned grace/sanctification but a fulsome, holistic expression of Christ as us and the Church.
While being the expression of Christ rather than the expression of religion/moralism may afford an uneasy peace. The living of Christ our life affords real peace, growing grace towards self and others and an increasing joy in all aspects of life as we realise that we are living in that which Father designed that we have fellowship with Him in all of living.
INNER LIFE/INNER LIGHT
Jeff McSwain writes, “While true that Jesus Christ is often hidden, just as true is that Jesus Christ is never absent; for Barth, Jesus Christ is just as present in his hiddenness as he is in his 'revealedness'.” (2) If you have made a habit of living with and in Christ you will grow in sensitivity to the presence of the Christ of God in human endeavour of many kinds. You will find this in art, music, medicine and the surfeit of kindness shown to others in times of flood disaster and bushfire loss. Love is everything and it is Christ come in us.
(1) Radcliff, Alexandra S.. The Claim of Humanity in Christ: Salvation and Sanctification in the Theology of T. F. and J. B. Torrance (Princeton Theological Monograph Series Book 222) (p. 135). Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) McSwain, Jeff. Simul Sanctification: Barth’s Hidden Vision for Human Transformation (Princeton Theological Monograph Series Book 232) (p. 3). Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
JESUS JUSTIFICATION/SANCTIFICATION
Alexandra Radcliff writes, “This rooting of sanctification with justification is a significant aspect of the Torrances’ soteriology. What holds the two together is the vicarious humanity of Christ. For the Torrances, the vicarious humanity of Christ means that “Christ takes our place and represents us, so that what is true of him is true of us, and what he did in his (our) humanity is ours.”603 This is what they believe is expressed by Jesus’s assertion, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified” (John 17:19). They also believe it to be indicative in Paul’s claim that Christ “became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (1 Cor 1:30). (1)
CHRIST IS OUR LIFE
This is why our Christ-life is grace, peace and transformation and neither a wizened formulaic earned grace/sanctification but a fulsome, holistic expression of Christ as us and the Church.
While being the expression of Christ rather than the expression of religion/moralism may afford an uneasy peace. The living of Christ our life affords real peace, growing grace towards self and others and an increasing joy in all aspects of life as we realise that we are living in that which Father designed that we have fellowship with Him in all of living.
INNER LIFE/INNER LIGHT
Jeff McSwain writes, “While true that Jesus Christ is often hidden, just as true is that Jesus Christ is never absent; for Barth, Jesus Christ is just as present in his hiddenness as he is in his 'revealedness'.” (2) If you have made a habit of living with and in Christ you will grow in sensitivity to the presence of the Christ of God in human endeavour of many kinds. You will find this in art, music, medicine and the surfeit of kindness shown to others in times of flood disaster and bushfire loss. Love is everything and it is Christ come in us.
(1) Radcliff, Alexandra S.. The Claim of Humanity in Christ: Salvation and Sanctification in the Theology of T. F. and J. B. Torrance (Princeton Theological Monograph Series Book 222) (p. 135). Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) McSwain, Jeff. Simul Sanctification: Barth’s Hidden Vision for Human Transformation (Princeton Theological Monograph Series Book 232) (p. 3). Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
