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Christus Victor! Lord of Hope!

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Meditations on Atonement

Christus Victor!
"…set you free from the law of sin and of death…"

Stop worrying about all the atonement theories; these are human explanations of a divine transaction. You get insights from all.

Remember this: God Wins!

And, by God's mercy, You Win!

Romans 8:1-11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law– indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. 

God does not let us get by with our sins; He forgives them. That is two different things.
 
Being forgiven is not "getting by" with something.
 
It is a mystery that, for the follower of Jesus, makes sense in the drama and reality of the cross and which always leads to awe and worship.
 
" O LORD our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Exalt the LORD our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the LORD our God is holy!"
(Psalm 99:8-9 ESV)
 
"Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind. Sight, riches, healing of the mind, yea, all of these in Thee, I find. Oh Lamb of God, I come."
"…. waiting not … To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot …. I come."
 
I come.
 
"Just as I am. Thy love, unknown has broken every barrier down. Now to be Thine, yea Thine alone, oh Lamb of God, I come."
 
I come.
 
We fall; we rise.
We are adjudicated and found guilty and then …
The Judge steps down from the bench to plead our case.
It is as if we cannot lose; every loss becomes a win.
 
" Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the LORD will be a light to me.
I will bear the indignation of the LORD
because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
I shall look upon his vindication."
(Micah 7:8-9 ESV)
 
 
 
"But as for me …" It is my response to truth for which I am either culpable or commendable. I am not in charge of anyone else's opinions or choices. I can care, but I cannot control. I can converse, but I cannot coerce. I can seek to convince the mind, but I cannot convict the heart. Neither need I be swayed by the resistance of another. I need not the validation of peers in order to believe that which resonates truth in our hearts. We can relax in this because trust is resting in God and waiting for Him.
 
" But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me."
(Micah 7:7 ESV)
 
Totally without hope one cannot live. To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness. It is no accident that above the entrance to Dante's hell is the inscription: "Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.” ― Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope
 
 
Moltmann was born on this day in 1926

 

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tomsims
I am a pastor and internet citizen in Fresno/Clovis, CA.
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