This is all copied over from one of my facebook posts found here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34778682&l=3ffd388343&id=9505601
1) Everything starts with God's faithfulness to His promise to His people.
2) This leads to the Cross, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and to the resurrection of Christ.
3) Apart from the Cross, faith in Christ, who is the promise of God, is impossible. Our faith is the result of our reaction to the Cross (whereas others react with disbelief) so we say that even faith is a gift from God just as the death of Jesus is a gift from God. Who would say that they brought themselves to faith? Rather, it is the wondrous cross which brings anyone to faith.
4) The Cross also leads to the justification of God because in his forbearance he has left our sins unpunished and thus seemed to be unjust. Christ died so that God would be righteous to judge sinners. Rom 25-26 (see comment 5)
5) Man stands accused before God because of his disobedience and sin while God is accused on account of his not dealing with our sin in the manner which was deserved (death). Both are accused, but God is innocent and Man is guilty of trespass. Jesus's death does not clear God's name from wrong like it does Man, but rather shows that God was just all along in his dealings with Man and that Man was further in the wrong for his accusation. As is written "The hated me without reason" (John 15:25)
6) So we say that man can be justified because of his faith in Christ. Since all men already stand condemned, the only hope is for a new righteousness that has been revealed apart from the Law which we can have access to through faith. This "New Righteousness" is the atoning work of Christ on the Cross and his Resurrection.
7) How are we justified? By the very fact that our sins are not counted against us. Although Man sins, God no longer holds sin against those who believe in Jesus Christ and His Death and Resurrection. In more technical language, our sins are no longer imputed to us. In less technical language, sin has lost it's power and death has lost it's sting. The process is of continual renewal, being granted new mercies everyday. From only this point can we seek transformation.
8) But God as well is justified, for he has dealt with our sin in a manner which has also brought us justification. He could have just wiped out Man and have been done with it back in Eden and thus remained just, but He chose this route. God has punished every single sin committed PRIOR to the death of His Son (and thus why we need continual new mercies every morning) by laying onto Jesus every single sin committed up until that point. By being baptized into his death, we too share in the punishment of every single prior sin and are justified. Jesus died the death of a million sinners so that God could once and for all condemn Satan and call into account the sins of Man.
9) So in that sense, Jesus died in order to Justify God as the only one who can Judge the world, but God raised Jesus to life so that through his life we also might live because of faith. In a sense, what we have is a "double imputation" (I am not the one who coined this term), that is our sins are imputed to Jesus and his righteousness is in turn imputed onto us. We swap roles because Jesus does bear our burdens for us as God Himself pays for our sins. As a consequence to this, God shows himself to be the only one capable of judging Man and thus establishes himself once and for all as Lord over the Earth and all that is in it so that no one may challenge his rightful rulership.
10) Because Christ died, there was no one else to carry out the work he started on Earth. It was clear that his disciples even were at a loss, but Jesus says that if he did not go to the Father, then the Holy Spirit could not come to them, a spirit of truth and the wonderful Counselor able to guide them just as Jesus did while he remained on Earth. In addition, we see three main spheres of activity of God in Three different areas corresponding to the Trinity. All three were active in the beginning and will be in the end, but we see a movement from a main focus on the activity of God the Father leading up to the New Testament, which focuses on the activity of the Son, Jesus Christ until his ascension, after which and up until this present day we see the activity and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Also, whereas Jesus was limited in his humanity (as he was sent to minister in a specific area to a specific people), the Holy Spirit is unlimited by spacial constraints. Without the Holy Spirit, moving from forgiveness and justification to sanctification is impossible. Man would remain in his same sinful passions and rather than send another Son to die on a cross, the Holy Spirit works to transform Man's heart away from sin which consequently works to heal a world impacted by generations of sin. MOTHS is short for Ministry of the Holy Spirit, the last stage before the coming age.
11) And so Sanctification which is enabled by the Holy Spirit is that which works to transform us from a sinner to a saint. It is God's work within us to restore what was in Eden, and to raise us up again as vice regents, little kings and queens, who rule under God. Because God is righteous, He not only addresses the problem of sin by dealing out proper punishment (on Himself), but also works to correct it by bringing restitution and reconciliation to those wronged or hurt. God's justice is a restorative Justice and first and foremost it was our peace with God that needed to be restored.
12) Naturally, because of the Holy Spirit at work within us bringing inward transformation, we see and bear fruit, which we call "Works". It is in this sense that Faith produces Works as an apple tree produces apples. Works are those good deeds which result from obedience to Jesus's sacred charge to Love God and Love your neighbor. To say that a person could "do good things" (i.e. produce works) apart from a belief and faith in Christ is to try and make apples without an apple tree. Such things are not apples, and though they may look like apples, are made of stone or wood or mud and not edifying in the long run.
13) So from these Works, we start to see something larger occur: the formation of the Global Body of Christ, namely the Church. With many people being touched and transformed by the Holy Spirit and all working as agents of God and Christ, we see the extension of Jesus's ministry that was started around 30AD. With Jesus as our united head, he controls His body through his Spirit (the Holy Spirit) to continue to transform the world. After all, the Body is simply the instrument which the Spirit animates. In the same way we are the Body of Christ. It is only through His Church (first touched and transformed by Christ) that the entire world might be blessed through his Body.
14) And so we get to the global mission of the Church, namely to testify to that which we have seen and heard, that Jesus Christ is Lord. He alone has to power to touch and transform our own lives. We preach the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe (Rom 1:17) and we simply do not preach the Gospel in words but in acts (Works) so that all might call Jesus Lord. We preach from a position of thankfulness for what Christ has done, not because it is something we must do or an obligation laid upon us. In fact if it weren't for the Holy Spirit within us, Man would not be able to live in a way according to the Gospel at all! God has done everything for us from first to last. It is through our own personal transformation that God is glorified, testifying that God can take that which is broken in order to make it something beautiful and extraordinary. And thus the entire purpose of all of Creation is to glorify God, and that is exactly what God has done: given us a reason to glorify him.
15) And so what is the relationship between faith and salvation? Faith is the very beginning. Salvation is this entire process drawn in this photo, as I could not place my finger on any one place where salvation "occurs". It is a stream of saved, being saved, and will be saved. So then, no one can be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, this is not at all to say who is saved and who is not, but rather is a defense to say that only God has proven himself worthy to make any such verdicts. If it were up to us to decide, many of the innocent would be put to death and the guilty would walk free (or so has been our precedent). Whatever the grounds God uses to condemn or justify a person, we know them to be fair and just. This is a defense of God's righteousness: His righteousness to pay back what is deserved, his righteousness to do what is correct and just, and his righteousness that restores us, all of which has been displayed in grace through the death of Christ, his Only Son.
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