– The importance of the resurrection to justification can be summed up thus: ‘he was raised for our justification.’ Ergo, no resurrection, no justification.
– Justification = the vindication of the crucified son, in which we share as we die, are buried, and raised with him.
– Jesus as representative: what is true of him is true of his people.
– Hence, after we are dead, buried and raised with him, we share in his vindication and new life.
– We thus become (embody) the righteousness of God
– We are justified ‘in Christ’ – we share ‘in his’ vindication so that ‘in him’ we can embody the righteousness/faithfulness of God revealed in Christ and the Gospel
We are so jaded by the 4 spiritual laws that it’s easy to overlook the vital relationship between the resurrection and justification. Christ died for my sins, and that’s where we stop thinking.
In fact, the resurrection is not even mentioned in the four spiritual laws! What? How can the most popular presentation of the good news not even mention the resurrection of Christ? But it doesn’t. (See http://www.crustore.org/fourlawsflash.htm for the 4 laws, if you’re interested.)
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Definitely some serious problems in such an account…
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