Saved by the life of Jesus. Finished works is a half gospel.

1 year ago
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Here are the notes:

**Three Major Themes of Our Relationship with the Divine**:
1. **Salvation Through Jesus's Resurrection**: The New Testament recurrently emphasizes the indispensable nature of Jesus's resurrection for our salvation. (The finished works message is only half of the gospel.)

2. **Being One with God**: The believer's unique positioning with God underscores our shared lineage with Christ, our active participation in God's kingdom, and the unity believers are to experience with the Divine.

3. **Shared Equality with the Divine**: Jesus's instruction for us to address God as "Our Father" isn't just a lesson in prayer but a profound declaration of our shared status and relationship with God.

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**Salvation Through Jesus's Resurrection**:
The New Testament contains multiple references that touch on the concept of being saved through Jesus's life, particularly emphasizing His resurrection as the source of our salvation. Some notable passages include:
1. Romans 6:4-5 (KJV): "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."
2. Romans 8:11 (KJV): "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."
3. 1 Peter 1:3 (KJV): "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
4. 1 Corinthians 15:17 (KJV): "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."
5. Colossians 2:12 (KJV): "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."

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**Being One with God: An Intimate Equality**:
1. **The Fatherhood of God**:
- John 10:30-33: Jesus states, "I and the Father are one." The religious leaders were ready to stone Him because, in calling God His Father, He was putting Himself on equal terms with God.
- Matthew 6:9: In teaching His disciples to pray, Jesus began with "Our Father in heaven..." signifying our shared relationship with God.
2. **Partakers of the Divine**:
- 2 Peter 1:3-4: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness... He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature."
3. **Unity with the Divine**:
- John 17:21-23: Jesus prays for all believers, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you... I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one."
- John 20:17: After His resurrection, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Here, Jesus affirms our shared relationship with the Father.

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**Shared Equality with the Divine**:
When Jesus taught His disciples the model for prayer in **Matthew 6:9**, He began with the words, "Our Father in heaven..." This introduction is revolutionary in its implications:
1. **Shared Parentage**: By using "Our Father," Jesus is highlighting that the same God He calls Father is also our Father. In essence, it's a declaration of our shared lineage with Christ.
2. **Equality in Relationship**: This prayer isn't reserved for a select few or just for Jesus Himself. It's for every believer. By guiding us to address God as "Our Father," Jesus underscores our right and privilege to approach God with the confidence of a child approaching a loving parent.
3. **Positioning with Christ**: If Jesus, being in the form of God, refers to the Divine as His Father and then instructs us to do the same, it signifies our elevated position as co-heirs with Christ. Romans 8:17 says, "If children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ..."
This isn't about superiority but a profound understanding of our relationship with the Divine. In teaching us to pray "Our Father," Jesus is inviting us into a recognition of our shared equality with God, positioning us not as distant subjects but as beloved children, intimately connected to the Divine in a relationship of love, trust, and unity.

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