“Through this Word of reconciliation – the gospel – God becomes a
stranger in a third sense: not only because he is our creator and judge,
but because he is our Redeemer. This is a strange Word from a
strange God because it contradicts our moral reasoning, which is captive
to a theology of glory. [If] limited to “the moral law within”, the
gospel can only be dismissed as foolish superstition. Contrary to our
distorted intuitions, the gospel does not encourage our conquest of
heaven through intellectual, mystical and moral striving. It announces
that even while we were enemies, God reconciled us. While we were dead
in sins, he made us alive in Christ. We are saved by God’s good works, not our own.
Because we are sinners, God’s speech is disruptive and disorienting. It
is not we who overcome estrangement, but God who heals the breach by
communicating the gospel of his Son… While a theology of glory presumes
to scale the walls of God’s heavenly chamber, a theology of the Cross
will always recognize that although we cannot reach God, he can reach us
and has done so.”
Michael Horton, The Christian Life, page 51, 53.
What if God tunes the hearts of strangers AND sons with the same
song? What if never-ceasing mercy is God’s song for salvation AND
transformation? What if there are no dead ends in Jesus… and even our
wandering is just another way home?
John Dink
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