THE ISSUE IS OUR INCLUSION IN GOD
17/08/24 08:47
If we think that the foundational issue of a Godly life is the law and the keeping of it or if we are fellow travellers with this view because we think acceptance with God comes by moralism and Christian lore, we are out of step with the Gospel of Jesus, Paul and John. The foundation of our regeneration into true daughters and sons is our inclusion by Christ in God – our inclusion and belonging in the Communion that is the Trinity in Him.
LAW ADDICTION
Those who have founded their theology on the law and its keeping have their doctrine askew. For the law is not the issue of life. The undoing of the separation precipitated by Adam is the issue of life. Our salvation inheres entirely in the fact that in Jesus Christ we have been included in His life in the Trinity – not as Gods but as sons/daughters of God.
IN FATHER AS SONS
In Jesus we are one with Him, one with Father Son and Holy Spirit and woven into God in true sonship so that God is not only with us. God is in us to impart to us healing and life. This is the Source of true identity and well-being.
IS OUR DOCTRINE CHRISTIAN?
“It is worth mentioning that, in his recent book on Torrance’s trinitarian soteriology Dick O. Eugenio relies quite heavily on Torrance’s book, The Christian Doctrine of God, noting that Torrance is rightly considered a ‘theologian of the Trinity’ because ‘The doctrine of the Trinity not only permeates Torrance’s large theological corpus, but is the consistent “ground and grammar” of his theology’.
THE BASIS OF KINGDOM LIFE
“Eugenio contends: ‘It is not an exaggeration to say that as a Christian theologian, the doctrine of the Trinity is the canon by which Torrance engages theological traditions (including his own), and approaches and formulates his whole theological program.’ Torrance certainly held that it is not just that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity must be accorded primacy over all the other doctrines, but that properly understood it is the nerve and centre of them all, configures them all, and is so deeply integrated with them that when they are held apart from the doctrine of the Trinity they are seriously defective in truth and become malformed.” (1)
PAUL
None are compelled to live in malformed beliefs. Kingdom life is more simple and complete than many Christians know as Paul asserts in his ‘Christ who is our life’ and his statement in Galatians 2.20,21.
CHRIST OUR RESPONSE TO GOD
Christian Kettler writes, God. “We appear before God and are accepted by him as those who are inseparably united to Jesus Christ our great High Priest in his eternal self representation to the Father.”
As the human response to God, Christ intervenes in the middle of our sinful responses and broken fellowship with God. “Christ is at once the Word of God to man and for the first time a real word of man to God . . . Here we have One who steps into the midst of our religious estrangement from God which rests upon a perversion of both Scripture and priesthood and calls scribe and priest alike to account.” Christ is both the giver and the one who is “the gift of fulfilment.” Bringing the things of God to humanity so that the things of humanity may be brought to God (Athanasius).” (2) This is why Christ is our life and we are not. Why Godliness is not keeping close to Jesus’ but Jesus is for us, as us and in us.
(1) Torrance, Thomas F.. The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (T&T Clark Cornerstones) . Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
(2) Kettler, Christian D.. The God Who Rejoices: Joy, Despair, and the Vicarious Humanity of Christ . Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
LAW ADDICTION
Those who have founded their theology on the law and its keeping have their doctrine askew. For the law is not the issue of life. The undoing of the separation precipitated by Adam is the issue of life. Our salvation inheres entirely in the fact that in Jesus Christ we have been included in His life in the Trinity – not as Gods but as sons/daughters of God.
IN FATHER AS SONS
In Jesus we are one with Him, one with Father Son and Holy Spirit and woven into God in true sonship so that God is not only with us. God is in us to impart to us healing and life. This is the Source of true identity and well-being.
IS OUR DOCTRINE CHRISTIAN?
“It is worth mentioning that, in his recent book on Torrance’s trinitarian soteriology Dick O. Eugenio relies quite heavily on Torrance’s book, The Christian Doctrine of God, noting that Torrance is rightly considered a ‘theologian of the Trinity’ because ‘The doctrine of the Trinity not only permeates Torrance’s large theological corpus, but is the consistent “ground and grammar” of his theology’.
THE BASIS OF KINGDOM LIFE
“Eugenio contends: ‘It is not an exaggeration to say that as a Christian theologian, the doctrine of the Trinity is the canon by which Torrance engages theological traditions (including his own), and approaches and formulates his whole theological program.’ Torrance certainly held that it is not just that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity must be accorded primacy over all the other doctrines, but that properly understood it is the nerve and centre of them all, configures them all, and is so deeply integrated with them that when they are held apart from the doctrine of the Trinity they are seriously defective in truth and become malformed.” (1)
PAUL
None are compelled to live in malformed beliefs. Kingdom life is more simple and complete than many Christians know as Paul asserts in his ‘Christ who is our life’ and his statement in Galatians 2.20,21.
CHRIST OUR RESPONSE TO GOD
Christian Kettler writes, God. “We appear before God and are accepted by him as those who are inseparably united to Jesus Christ our great High Priest in his eternal self representation to the Father.”
As the human response to God, Christ intervenes in the middle of our sinful responses and broken fellowship with God. “Christ is at once the Word of God to man and for the first time a real word of man to God . . . Here we have One who steps into the midst of our religious estrangement from God which rests upon a perversion of both Scripture and priesthood and calls scribe and priest alike to account.” Christ is both the giver and the one who is “the gift of fulfilment.” Bringing the things of God to humanity so that the things of humanity may be brought to God (Athanasius).” (2) This is why Christ is our life and we are not. Why Godliness is not keeping close to Jesus’ but Jesus is for us, as us and in us.
(1) Torrance, Thomas F.. The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (T&T Clark Cornerstones) . Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
(2) Kettler, Christian D.. The God Who Rejoices: Joy, Despair, and the Vicarious Humanity of Christ . Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
