Chapter 6, “The Mystery of the Person of Christ, part 2”
Kilcrease opens by speaking of a “new narrative” of creation, God counteracting sin with the law and gospel. Shortly afterward, he observes that in the curse (Genesis 3:16), God becomes condemning and demanding. Therefore, he speaks a new word, which is the Gospel. Through this new narrative God changes humanity’s hopes, giving them a promiose. This is God’s self-donation. He will lower himself so as to exalt humanity. God’s plan of fellowship with his creation has not changed, but his way of achieving it has. Kilcrease draws three points of contrast between the old narrative and the new.
1) The new narrative reverses sin’s effect. God does this in the same way as he becomes incarnate, by infusing his new word into what is old, draining the old of its “independent reality.” Christ fulfills the Law. He doesn’t merely abandon it. Kilcrease also points up that redemption is something Jesus does with his human nature.
2) The new narrative is portrayed as a war against Satan. Because in the beginning God’s Word is perverted by the devil, in the end the devil must be defeated. This is accomplished by Christ’s atonement for sins.
3) God promises lasting heavenly rest in the new creation. All humanity has had only a small foretaste of heavenly rest. Jesus, in his earthly ministry, according to Kilcrease, becomes the rest for his people.
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