Theological Statement, Part 2 - Jesus & the Holy Spirit
Theological Statement, Part 3 - The Bible
Theological Statement, Part 4 - The Human Condition
(Painting: "Allegory of Salvation," by Antonius Heusler, c.1555)
Salvation – The
salvation
effected by Christ is both cosmic and personal. It is cosmic in that it
aims
for the restoration and submission of all things to Christ, bringing
forth a new
creation in which “the kingdom of God” encompasses all created things,
when God
is “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:20-28). It is also personal, in that the new
creation begins in the hearts of individual men and women who find new
life in
Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). When the Son of God became incarnate, fully joined
to a
personal human nature in Jesus Christ, our salvation, which had been
planned
from before the foundations of the world and set in motion through God’s
relationship with Abraham and Israel, was now finally at hand. The union
of his
divine nature with our human nature represented the inauguration of the
re-creation of a new humanity, with Christ as the new Adam (Rom.
5:17-21). In
assuming our nature, he introduced in humanity the antidote for the
disease of our
fallen nature, and enabled us once again to grow toward a transformation
into
love and holiness (2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 2:18-19; 2 Pet. 1:3-4), which is
our birthright
as the image of God. Anyone who comes to faith in Christ becomes a part
of this
new humanity, and we once again are brought into communion with the
divine
nature through the person of Christ himself (Rom. 5:17-18; Col. 1:22).
Thus by
his incarnation he began the deep healing of human nature from its
distorted,
fallen sinfulness (the first of the problems caused by original sin as
outlined
above). In his ministry he initiated the presence of the Kingdom of God
as a
historical, present-on-earth reality (Mt. 4:17); in essence launching an
invasion of enemy-occupied territory by healing the sick, casting out
demons,
and revealing truth that would guide the new and growing community of
that
Kingdom. When he was crucified, he accomplished several more aspects of
our
salvation: he gave us certain knowledge of the character of God in its
fullest
revelation by representing love taken to the farthest degree of
self-sacrifice
(1 Jn. 3:16); he triumphed over earthly systems of brokenness and
oppression by
accepting their worst without submitting himself to them; he defeated
Satan and
the demonic powers and “made a spectacle of them” (Col. 2:15; Heb.
2:14-15; 1
Jn. 3:8); and on behalf of humanity he offered himself as an atoning
sacrifice
for sin, willingly accepting the consequence of sin—death—even though he
himself was sinless (Rom. 3:25; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 2:2, 4:10). These
accomplishments were revealed and made final when he rose again,
triumphing
over sin, Satan, and death itself. After his resurrection, Christ
finished his
teaching about the Kingdom, ascended into heaven, and bestowed the Holy
Spirit
on his church. The church thus became the primary locus of the Kingdom
of God
in the world, “the Body of Christ,” and through its expansion, its
mission, and
its many vocations in the daily lives of believers, it extends the
Kingdom of
God further and further into enemy territory in anticipation of the day
when
the Kingdom comes in all its fullness. The gathered community of the
church
thus represents the emerging shape of the new humanity and of the new
creation,
and within its life we are saved unto a communal experience of humanity
as it
was meant to be: living a life of ongoing transformation into greater
likeness
to the character of God, and greater unity to Christ (2 Pet. 1:3-4; Jn.
17:20-23). In order to become a part of this ever-marching Kingdom of
God, a
man or woman must be brought to hear the message of the Gospel and must,
through the grace of God, decide to make Jesus Christ the Lord of their
life (a decision which includes an act of repentance, of a decisive
turning away from one's old ways of living).
With this act of faith alone, enabled by the free grace of God apart
from any
good works, and taking no account of any merits of their own, a person
is born
again into the new humanity and becomes a “new creation” (Eph. 2:8-9; 2
Cor.
5:17). Such a convert, at the moment of faith, is incorporated into the
worldwide, trans-historical Body of Christ and is sealed with the Holy
Spirit
(Eph. 1:13). Their sins are forgiven through the atonement wrought by
Christ,
and they are given grace and power to begin the long journey of full
healing
from the distortions of the sin nature; even more, they are given free
and full
access to the restored calling of humanity, to grow into ever greater
likeness
to God as his image-bearers. Without Christ, they would have been cut
off from
relationship with God, the source of life itself; but with Christ they
share in
Jesus’ triumph over sin, Satan, and death, and are able to enter into
“everlasting life” at that very moment (Jn. 3:36). Instead of the threat
of
hell, they are given the promise of an endless, joyful existence in the
new
heavens and the new earth (Rev. 20:15-21:3). This salvation is not just
an individual reality in that person's life: it is the shared experience
of the entire community of Christians, and it is experienced in its
fullness here and now by incorporation into a local church, as a member
of "the Body of Christ." The story of salvation does not
begin and end with either individuals or the church, though: there are
hints in
Scripture that all of creation will ultimately share in the restoration
of all
things through Christ (Col. 1:19-20; Eph. 1:9-10). Nature will be
liberated
from its bondage to decay and will be re-created in a state untouched by
the
brokenness of sin (Rom. 8:19-21; Rev. 21:1), to become fully a part of
the eternal
worship of God in the new heavens and the new earth (Ps. 98-7-9; Is.
65:25).