THE HOLISTIC GOSPEL OF CHRIST OUR LIFE
05/09/24 07:24
We, can, if we have been mistaught, think that ‘participating in the divine nature’ is keeping the law. But this is mistaken since we are incapable of doing this kind of righteousness let alone being holy as God is holy in ourselves. We are no more capable of ‘keeping close to Jesus’ than the Jews were in keeping the law. Our gripping on to a bunch of church distinctives /icons and ‘living a contract’, makes us neither whole or holy.
In any case Godly living is more than about justification. As Paul declares in Gal 2.20,21 the Christ life is His life as ours. Jesu said, ‘Those who eat me will live because of me.’ This inheritance is a holistic one.
PARTICIPATING IN JESUS
‘Participating in the divine nature is not law-keeping, moralising or living Christian lore – because the oneness that is ours, is not living the knowledge of good and evil in Christian form. It is union with God.
Douglas Campbell writes “The divine persons are tightly bound up with one another—so much so that we cannot think of one person apart from another. Their relationships with one another make them who they are as persons. But it follows from this that all persons, made in God’s image—which we are—are defined in the same way: by their relationships with one another. Human persons too are relational to the point that being relational is what makes them persons.” (1) The Kind of relationship described here is the nature of the relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It’s our inclusion in God.
NOTING TO DO WITH THE LAW/MORALISM
This kind of relationship with God is what makes us persons and more – persons that are sons of God in spirit and truth. In John 17 Jesus states that the life that is ours in Him is of similar nature to the oneness that the trinitarian persons have with each other.
‘Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one” John 17. 12. That is, one as we are one in trinitarian relationship. Let’s be clear. We participate in the divine nature because we are included in this relationship in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the trinity that makes its home in your being. This is your participation in God as the gift that is yours in Christ.
(1)Campbell, Douglas; DePue, Jon. Beyond Justification: Liberating Paul’s Gospel (p. 49). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
In any case Godly living is more than about justification. As Paul declares in Gal 2.20,21 the Christ life is His life as ours. Jesu said, ‘Those who eat me will live because of me.’ This inheritance is a holistic one.
PARTICIPATING IN JESUS
‘Participating in the divine nature is not law-keeping, moralising or living Christian lore – because the oneness that is ours, is not living the knowledge of good and evil in Christian form. It is union with God.
Douglas Campbell writes “The divine persons are tightly bound up with one another—so much so that we cannot think of one person apart from another. Their relationships with one another make them who they are as persons. But it follows from this that all persons, made in God’s image—which we are—are defined in the same way: by their relationships with one another. Human persons too are relational to the point that being relational is what makes them persons.” (1) The Kind of relationship described here is the nature of the relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It’s our inclusion in God.
NOTING TO DO WITH THE LAW/MORALISM
This kind of relationship with God is what makes us persons and more – persons that are sons of God in spirit and truth. In John 17 Jesus states that the life that is ours in Him is of similar nature to the oneness that the trinitarian persons have with each other.
‘Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one” John 17. 12. That is, one as we are one in trinitarian relationship. Let’s be clear. We participate in the divine nature because we are included in this relationship in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the trinity that makes its home in your being. This is your participation in God as the gift that is yours in Christ.
(1)Campbell, Douglas; DePue, Jon. Beyond Justification: Liberating Paul’s Gospel (p. 49). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
