At the very center of the world\u2019s redemption is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The intention of God is to call others into the \u201cambit\u201d of his Son, or to call humans to be \u201cin Christ.\u201d When all is done, God will be all in all and at the center of it all will the Son on the throne. At the very center of the world\u2019s redemption is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The intention of God is to call others into the \u201cambit\u201d of his Son, or to call humans to be \u201cin Christ.\u201d When all is done, God will be all in all and at the center of it all will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romans"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nA central theme here is assurance: those whom God calls will be conformed. (Now don\u2019t get cute and ask about Arminianism, because Paul is not talking about exceptions but about God\u2019s intent and the effectiveness of his calling.)
\nThere is a chain of words here, and they gave rise to the idea of an ordo salutis<\/em>: the order of how things happen in the redemptive process. I\u2019m not so sure that is what is Paul\u2019s mind \u2014 he might be mostly listing what does in fact happen. Wright emphasizes not making this too mechanical and discounting the reality of human response.
\nStill, it begins in God\u2019s intent with the Son, it leads to God\u2019s destined purposes actually calling people through the gospel\u2019s proclamation, and that leads to justification, and that to glorification.
\nThe goal of this is to become Eikons by being conformed to the perfect Eikon: Christ. This process is at work now, and it the purpose of an Eikon to glow with God\u2019s presence in the here and now so that God may be glorified through a family that is redeemed.
\nOne can quibble here if this is corporate process or individual process, but I suspect it is both \u2014 with an emphasis here on the big corporate. But, it is silly to make them alternatives.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"