The Finished Word

The Gift of the Spirit is the First Fruits of the bodily resurrection and the Guarantee of our participation in the coming New Creation . The Apostle Paul presents Abraham as the great model of faith. God counted his faith as “ righteousness ” when he was uncircumcised, which means that God justified the Patriarch apart from the “ works of the Law .” Thus, he became the father of all men who are also “ from faith .” Circumcision was added after the promise as the confirmation of Abraham’s justifying faith.

In his letter to the Laodiceans, the Risen “ Son of Man ” is called the “ Beginning of the Creation of God .” In his Death and Resurrection, he inaugurated the New Creation. He is also called the “ Amen, the faithful and true witness ” in the present tense, appellations applied to him previously by the Book’s prologue – (Revelation 3:14).

Salvation includes the bodily resurrection of the saints and life in the New Creation, which will occur when Jesus arrives . Central to the doctrine of salvation is the promise of  redemption . God will not abandon what He first created, and both the term and the concept mean the  recovery of what was lost . The universe is enslaved by sin and condemned to decay and death. In God’s redemptive plans, the end state of redeemed things and persons is vastly superior to their original state, and this principle is epitomized in the promises of bodily Resurrection and New Creation.

There is “ now no condemnation ” of anyone “ in Christ Jesus .” This happy condition exists because the “ law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death .” In  Romans , the Apostle Paul links our salvation to the inheritance of Christ and the coming redemption of our bodies and creation itself.

Paul presents his Gospel message starting with humanity's plight due to sin and concluding with the resurrection of the dead . In his Letter to the Romans , Paul presents his most detailed explanation of the Gospel. His purpose is to deal with conflicts between Gentile and Jewish members of the Church and to prepare the ground in Rome for his plan to take the Gospel to the western parts of the Empire. In doing so, the Apostle addresses key topics, including death, redemption, the Law, resurrection, and New Creation.

The History of Israel included national sins that caused her expulsion from the Land of Canaan. However, God foresaw her failures and determined to institute a new covenant, one energized and characterized by His Spirit . This covenant would include the salvation of the nations and culminate in the New Creation at the end of the age. With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Age of the Spirit commenced.

Jesus declared, “ The Spirit makes alive. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken to you, they are spirit, and they are life .” His statement echoes the principle that life and the Spirit of God are inextricably linked. The “ flesh ” is not inherently evil, but it has no lasting life apart from the Holy Spirit. This principle was demonstrated at the original creation, and now the same Spirit is essential for the bodily resurrection of believers and everlasting life in the age to come.

In his second epistle, Peter addresses the growing weariness of some believers due to the apparent delay in or even the failure of the “ arrival ” of Jesus to materialize, an open door for false teachers and outside critics to exploit. Instead of the predicted terrestrial and cosmic upheaval, daily life was continuing as it always had. The Apostle’s explanation is as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago.

Paul presents Abraham as the great exemplar of the faith, the model for believers to emulate as they live from the “ faith of Jesus .” God counted his faith as “ righteousness ” while he was uncircumcised and thus justified him apart from the “ works of the Torah .” He is the father of those who live “ from the faith of Jesus ” whether Jew or Gentile and the “ heir of the world .”