I recently responded to a post on various newsgroups asking ‘What’s the Big Idea in Paul’s preaching/writings?’

Lutherans: Justification by faith

Reformed Churches: The electing grace of God

Pentecostals: the power of the indwelling Spirit

Fundamentalists: Salvation from sin

Wesleyans/Holiness groups: the sanctifying work of the Spirit

Etc. etc.

All partly right, but wrong on their own. These doctrines are means to the greater end Of… wait for it:

Union with Christ

The classic theological essay on this theme for the last sixty years has been Scottish Presbyterian/scholar/evangelist – now there’s a combination for you! – James Stewart’s ‘Union with Christ the heart of Paul’s religion’ in his chapter ‘Mysticism and Morality’ in the book ‘A Man in Christ’ (They later discovered there were women in Christ 🙂

Briefly: all the above doctrines are means to the end of being ‘United with Christ’ – the great goal of the Christian, and of the universe. When they become ends in themselves they fall short of God’s holy intention for God’s people.

John Stott – England’s ‘Mr Evangelical’ – picked up this theme in an essay entitled ‘In Christ’. There he notes that the expressions ‘in Christ’ / ‘in the Lord’ / ‘in him’ occur ‘164 times in the letters of Paul alone and are indispensable to an understanding of the New Testament.’ (Article edited from an address to the 1983 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC).

As we understand the implications of all this, we prefer the phrase ‘Christian (or ‘Spiritual’) Formation’ to describe the process whereby the Word of God is mediated by the Spirit of God to the heart and mind (probably in that order) of the child of God so that she or he becomes more like the Son of God. See the essay on that in our homepage…

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Subject: Re: the big idea in Paul

Date: Mon, 28 Jul 97

From: (Steven E. Hoell)

To:

Bingo! All of this can be found in the work of Ignatius of Antioch
(1st-2nd Century) and more or less represents the Eastern Orthodox
view of salvation: union with Christ.

-Steve Hoell