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Peace
| God moves first with grace and comes to us in Christ to reconcile
us to himself. He transforms us and accepts us into the covenant
relationship. God clothes us, like the prodigal son, in "the robe of
righteousness" and gives us a place in his family. The heart of the
gospel is Jesus Christ, through whom God came to us and became human
yet sinless, to restore true humanity in us. In Christ, we are a new
creation, reconciled with God and with each other as God's own people,
saved from being self-centered. Thus, Augsburger says, reconciliation
surely has a social effect. God's self-disclosure reaches its full
expression in Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, Lord, Mentor,
Intercessor, and Reconciler. We become a new community of disciples
living in solidarity with Jesus. Salvation and ethics flow from our
relation to Jesus; we identify with Jesus, to live by God's will. The
gospel makes love possible. The church needs a new sense of the
global and situational nature of God's reign, sharing God's grace
personally with all peoples, to enable them to live with equity,
justice, and mutuality. This book holds together the evangelistic and
social dimensions of reconciliation as the core of the gospel. Copyright 2000. | |