Jesus Christ: The Riches Of The Glory Of This MysterySample

The Soteriological Christ  

  The Christian shorthand for God’s work in the world is “salvation” (Gk. Soteria). Because sin is primarily about separation, fragmentation, and alienation, salvation is also primarily about reconciliation and peace. 

This salvation-as-reconciliation is, at least, two-tiered. The first is the reconciliation of individuals: “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his body” (vv. 21, 22). Our state and experience as sinful individuals is one of alienation and conflict, both with God, and with and within ourselves. And the salvation of Christ is “to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (v. 22), to be “in the faith, stable and steadfast” (v. 23), and to be “mature in Christ” (v. 28). In other words, salvation is about re-integrating, re-centring, and re-stabilizing the self – the self that is reconciled with God and with oneself. 

The second is the reconciliation of the world and the whole cosmos. God’s purpose is not just to reconcile individuals to Himself. It is to bring about the reconciliation of all things. The biblical shorthand for this is Shalom. And all of this is achieved through the saving work of Christ alone: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (v. 20).