UNION WITH GOD IS LOVE AND LIFE
18/02/24 17:08
We can live from an ‘I do this so that God will do that’ theology or we can live in union with God.
Some of us believe in perversions of the gospel introduced by poor teaching or the assumption that our salvation could not be that good. Some even think of radical grace and the vicarious humanity of Jesus as a form of cheating.
CLOSET LEGALISM
For Believers who do not think of themselves as legalists radical grace negates their life-work of securing an entitlement to the favour and fellowship of God. So they adopt a modified contractual, half-earned grace of formulae and iconic beliefs. Morrison puts it this way, “When the Gospel calls men and women to repentance and faith, it is not the call for an independent work performed in order to earn God’s acceptance. Yet this is far too often implied—as if grace were some sort of transaction between us and God. God has supplied X and Y, but it is still up to us to supply Z to complete the work.” (1)
PADDLING UNDER WATER
Believers can attempt to ‘earn’ grace, to be worthy of it and often try to work up a respectable ‘holy self’ that they think will commend themselves to Christ. But this is not it at all. There is no link that you must forge yourself. “Torrance brilliantly displaces us as the focal point of our personal responses. Jesus Christ as a human being responded to the Father in perfect faith and repentance. Christ is the focal point of the human response to God, and our personal responses are made only within His response, as an echo to His vicarious humanity.” (2)
Christ is our relationship with God.
This is what Paul means with the words ‘Christ our life.’ Christ is our at-one-ment and more. Christ is our life in that He is us towards God and Christ is the expression of Himself as us in everyday living. Paul’s ‘Christ in you the hope of glory’ means you being formed in the authenticity of your sonship. As a real self you are an agent of the Real Christ and exhibit real life over religion.
(1) Morrison, Stephen D.. T. F. Torrance in Plain English (Plain English Series Book 2) (p. 138). Beloved Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.
(2) Ibid Morrison, (pp. 138-139).
