This is a piece of a larger paper I am wrote for my Systematic Theology 1 class. Of this I am confident, so far:
The Nature of Salvation should be understood as God’s efforts to restore the God-Man relationship and creation-society to the way he intended them to be at the point of creation; salvation is God’s holistic rescue operation of Man and Creation. God wants nothing more than to restore the God-Man relationship and creation-society to the way in which they were originally intended to be. In order to accomplish this act of restoration, He enfleshed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ and him alone God provided the means by which the God-Man relationship and creation-society can be restored to the way in which they were originally intended to be.
Technorati Tags: christianity, god-man relationship, jesus, kingdom of god, salvation, sin
The first act of salvation through Jesus was the God-Man relationship. Since God desires to be in relationship with every single person in the world, not simply a select few; He desires to include each of His Eikons in His restorative plan, not desiring that any be excluded to perish. Jesus Christ’s vision for restoring the God-Man relationship was communicated through the Cross. Through the Cross, Jesus made the final sacrifice for sin and took upon himself the sin and brokenness of the world in an effort to reconcile Man to God
Jesus Christ’s vision for restoring creation-society was communicated through His teachings on the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the society that embodies God’s will as found in the Jesus Creed, “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, and with all of your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.” This God-created society is the result of His promise to His people, and is marked by release, healing, freedom, favor, justice, mercy, peace, and love. The Kingdom of God embodies the purpose for which Jesus was on earth, as outlined in His words in Luke 4:16-19.
While the Kingdom of God is the central vision of Jesus, the Cross is the culmination of and catalyst for accomplishing His vision. Because Sin destroyed both the God-Man relationship and creation-society, the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, in addition to the bodily resurrection of Jesus, makes restoration possible. Ultimately, the Kingdom of God and restoration of individuals comes through the Gospel and the Gospel alone. The God-Man relationship is restored to the way in which they was originally intended to be, an eternal relationship defined by mutual love, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Creation and Society is restored to the way it was originally intended to be through the restoration of individuals and the adoption of the Way of Jesus.
