The Whole Christ

Jesus Christ not only died the death we should have died—he also lived the life we should have lived but can’t. His was perfect obedience, in our place. It doesn’t matter who you are—centurion, prostitute, hit man, minister. The curtain has been ripped from top to bottom. The barrier is gone. There is forgiveness and grace for you.

Faith in relation to justification is not just the trust to believe that our bank account is full. Rather, it is the very experience of receiving the person of Jesus Christ into our being. Justification is not some abstract cosmic happening that we can’t experience, so our only reaction can be faith as blind trust. Rather, justification is the shap

So Luther says that even after you are converted by the gospel your heart will go back to operating on other principles unless you deliberately, repeatedly set it to gospel-mode.

“the renewal of the whole world through the entrance of supernatural forces. As things are brought back under Christ’s rule and authority, they are restored to health, beauty, and freedom.”

many people forget that after the moment of salvation comes a lifetime of sanctification (the process of becoming holy). Your righteous position is gained in an instant of true belief, but your righteousness—your Christ-likeness—grows in depth over a lifetime of pursuing the things of God. That’s why Paul longs to lay hold of all that Christ offers

We are made into Christ (theosis) by experiencing the ministry of Christ, who gives us his life out of our deaths. Justification is not simply a picture of a sovereign, ruling God but the articulation of the depth of God’s own ministry. Justification begins with the divine proclamation that we are lost in sin and death and therefore always need the