Biblical Perspectives, Vol. 2 No. 1, 1994.
Review article
God’s Judgment Investigates if Christ is Our Savior and Lord
Ivan T. Blažen
; Pacific Union College, California, USA
Abstract
By recognizing salvation as a gift from God, do we then abandon
the idea that Christ is to rule as sovereign over us in this earthly
life? To do so would distort Paul’s intent, for when he stresses the
first he by no means negates the second. Author develops the argument by stressing the idea that the saving act of God is at once
a gift and a claim upon our lives. Jesus is both Savior and Lord
in dimensions that involve not only eternity but the present as well.
In no sense it is an issue of grace with added works. Both stem
from God as an indivisible unit. Forgiveness and renewal sire complementary sides of one package. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is right when he says that "the only man who has right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ." In
dealing with the judgment theme the author compares the concept
of the investigative judgment to the teaching on judgment in general
in John’s writings. He concludes that the investigative judgment
and the final judgment deal with a basic question common to both:
Is the believer’s life one of continuing faith, repentance, confession,
and obedient Service in love? The two judgments are really one,
but the one judgment has two phases. They have the same goal:
to establish if Christ is my Savior and Lord.
Keywords
Judgment; Christ; Savior; Lord
Hrčak ID:
89847
URI
Publication date:
25.5.1994.
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