The Surprising God

This post continues a series re-capping insights from Alexandra Radcliff's book,  The Claim of Humanity in Christ, Salvation and Sanctification in the Theology of T. F. and J. B. Torrance . For previous posts in this series, click a number:  1 ,  2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 ,  10 ,  11 .  Last time , we saw how Torrance theology views sanctification as our participation, by the Spirit, in Christ's obedient response to the Father on our behalf. According to Radcliff, "rather than diminishing our response," this approach "truly establishes it" (p. 99). In this post, we'll continue on this theme of participation, looking at the ultimate goal of our salvation, which involves what the Holy Spirit is doing to "lift humanity up to God.... [drawing] us up as adopted sons of God to participate in Christ's relationship with the Father" (p. 112). TF Torrance put it this way: By his very nature, the Holy Spirit not only proceeds from the Father b...

This post continues a series re-capping insights from Alexandra Radcliff's book,  The Claim of Humanity in Christ, Salvation and Sanctification in the Theology of T. F. and J. B. Torrance . For previous posts in the series, click a number:  1 ,  2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 .  Last time , we noted what Torrance theology says concerning the Holy Spirit's role in our sanctification. The Torrance brothers (Thomas F. [TF] and James B. [JB]) both teach that the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ, who in his vicarious humanity sanctifies us. A criticism of the Torrances on this point is that their view seems to negate the role of a person in their own sanctification. But as we noted last time, that criticism is unwarranted. The Torrances teach that in our spiritual union with Christ by the Spirit, we participate in Christ's response to God made on our behalf. As Radcliff notes, "This participatory scheme, rather than diminishing our human re...