Friday, October 28, 2011

How the New Testament Describes Salvation

Here is a feast for your heart and mind's consumption:
Justification – the lawcourt metaphor (Rom 5:1; Titus 3:7)
Sanctification – the cultus metaphor (1 Cor 1:2; 1 Thess 4:3)
Adoption – the familial metaphor (Rom 8:15; 1 John 3:1–2)
Reconciliation – the relational metaphor (Rom 5:1–11; 2 Cor 5:18–20)
Washing – the physical cleansing metaphor (1 Cor 6:11; Titus 3:7)
Redemption – the slave market metaphor (Eph 1:7; Rev 14:3–4)
Purchase – the financial transaction metaphor (1 Cor 6:20; 2 Pet 2:1)
Wedding – the marriage metaphor (Eph 5:31-32; Rev 21:2)
Liberation – the imprisonment metaphor (Gal 5:1; Rev 1:5)
New Birth – the physical generation metaphor (John 3:3–7; 1 Pet 1:3, 23)
Illumination – the light metaphor (John 12:35–36; 2 Cor 4:4–6)
New Creation – the redemptive-historical metaphor (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15)
Resurrection – the bodily metaphor (Eph 2:6; Col 3:1)
Union with Christ – the organic or spatial metaphor (Rom 6:1–14; 2 Tim 1:9)
Inexhaustible richness. Luther was right—
If a person is without warmth about matters pertaining to God and salvation, as the common man does, then the devil merely laughs. But if your words are aglow in your heart, you will put the devil to flight. (LW 22:357)
Thanks to Dane Ortlund for this!

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