(no subject)
To say that salvation is holistic is to acknowledge that there are many dimensions to living in harmony with God. In one sense salvation is a legal transaction. We are guilty because of our sin, and God is the judge who has to deal with our sin because he is holy and any act of sin goes against his core nature. He has to deal with it. Enter Jesus, who dies on the cross in our place. Jesus gets what we deserve, We get what Jesus desered.
For Jesus however salvation is far more. It includes this understanding but it is far more comprehensive, its a way of life. To be saved or redeemed or set free is to enter into a totally new way of living in harmony with God. The Rabbis called harmony with God "olam haba" which means "life in a world to come". Salvation is living more and more in harmony wiht God, a process that will go on forever in our lives. When we understand salvation from a legal-transaction prospective, then the point of the cross becomes what it has done for us. There is the once and for all of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and saying "It is finished". Nothing more to be offered and nothing more to be sacrifised. Jesus's death perfectly satifies God. We claim this truth as Christians. All has been forgiven. But lets also use a slightly different phrase....The work of the cross is inside of us. There is Jesus death on our behalf once and for all, but there is the ongoing work of the cross in our hearts and minds and souls and lives. There is the ongoing need to return to the cross to be reminded of our brokeness and dependence on God. There is the healing we need form the cross EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Which leads to forgivness. The point of the cross isnt forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger...Restoration. God isnt just interested in the covering over of our sins, God wants to make us into the people we were originally created to be. Its is not just the removal of whats being held against us, it is God pulling us into the people he originally had in mind when he made us. This restoration is why Jesus always orients his message around becoming the kind of people who are generous and loving and compassionate. The goal here isnt simply to not sin. Our purpose is to increase the shalom in this world. which is why approaches to the christian faith that deal soleywith not sinning always fail. They aim at the wrong thing. It is not about what you dont do. The point is becoming more and more the kind of people God had in mind when we were first created.
It is one thing to be forgiven, it is another thing to become more and more and more the person God made you to be.
For Jesus however salvation is far more. It includes this understanding but it is far more comprehensive, its a way of life. To be saved or redeemed or set free is to enter into a totally new way of living in harmony with God. The Rabbis called harmony with God "olam haba" which means "life in a world to come". Salvation is living more and more in harmony wiht God, a process that will go on forever in our lives. When we understand salvation from a legal-transaction prospective, then the point of the cross becomes what it has done for us. There is the once and for all of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and saying "It is finished". Nothing more to be offered and nothing more to be sacrifised. Jesus's death perfectly satifies God. We claim this truth as Christians. All has been forgiven. But lets also use a slightly different phrase....The work of the cross is inside of us. There is Jesus death on our behalf once and for all, but there is the ongoing work of the cross in our hearts and minds and souls and lives. There is the ongoing need to return to the cross to be reminded of our brokeness and dependence on God. There is the healing we need form the cross EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Which leads to forgivness. The point of the cross isnt forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger...Restoration. God isnt just interested in the covering over of our sins, God wants to make us into the people we were originally created to be. Its is not just the removal of whats being held against us, it is God pulling us into the people he originally had in mind when he made us. This restoration is why Jesus always orients his message around becoming the kind of people who are generous and loving and compassionate. The goal here isnt simply to not sin. Our purpose is to increase the shalom in this world. which is why approaches to the christian faith that deal soleywith not sinning always fail. They aim at the wrong thing. It is not about what you dont do. The point is becoming more and more the kind of people God had in mind when we were first created.
It is one thing to be forgiven, it is another thing to become more and more and more the person God made you to be.