Atonement, according to my Bible dictionary, means "a making at one," and is used in theology to "denote the work of Christ in dealing with the problem posed by the sin of man, and in bringing sinners into right relation with God."
Oswald answers the question he poses in his title: "The great privilege of discipleship is that I can sign on under His Cross, and that means death to sin." Then he emphasizes that there are only two choices: identification with Christ and therefore death to sin or allowing sin to flourish in your life.
My problem with Oswald's teaching today is the ease with which he asserts life will flow after that choice has been made: "The proof that your old man is crucified with Christ is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ." Seriously? I don't think it is easy to hear the voice of Christ, let alone to obey it. Paul himself writes about the battle between the old man and the new man in Romans 7 and the fact that he often does what he does not want to do.
Galatians, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a letter written by Paul to a church that has fallen victim to false teaching. The false teachers have assailed Paul's credibility, and he is forced to assert his credentials. In today's verse, Gal. 6:14, he turns from the security of those credentials to the cross of Christ. He glories only in his identification with Christ's death. The false teachers have also stressed the necessity of adhering to the Mosaic law in addition to belief in Christ's atoning sacrifice. Galatians is a book devoted to the idea that we are made right with God through identification with Christ's death -- justification by faith alone.
Oswald's final paragraph seems to extend the principle to sanctification by faith alone. Maybe the "easy" part is that Christ does the work in us, but we are still left to wrestle through all that life brings us and "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." I am willing to accept, as Oswald asserted, that God is amazingly tender, but I still see life as hard.
Barbara
My problem with Oswald's teaching today is the ease with which he asserts life will flow after that choice has been made: "The proof that your old man is crucified with Christ is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ."
ReplyDeleteOswald was deeply depressed for four years . . . perhaps a major source of the depression during this time was frustration that he could not hear the voice of Jesus Christ at all. From what I have read of his life, he felt a terrible emptiness as though everything about his spiritual life was dry and lifeless.
Elizabeth, I struggled with that same passage. You might want to take a look at the comments posted on Facebook in answer to my question: "Is it easy to obey?"
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