Part 5 — Salvation is a Means, not the Goal
God’s Eternal Plan - 5
The redemptive work of Jesus Christ is something so tremendous and so wonderful that we often see it as the entirety of God’s plan. Salvation is a loving, gracious, and sacrificial act, but it isn’t the whole story.
Jesus Christ gave man a new life through His redemptive work on the cross, restoring our communion and fellowship to the Father. The redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ and incarnated by the church is the MEANS for God to restore all things, and thus to complete His plan.
Redemption itself is not the end of the story. It is a wonderful act of God’s grace that corrects a great error made my man. For Paul, redemption was never God's full plan. He understood that the God’s ultimate purpose for man was the eternal family (Ephesians 1: 4-5; Romans 8: 28-29). A perfect family in Christ (Philippians 3: 12-14). His work for the Lord was not to simply “save” mankind by giving them eternal life, but to restore their image back to that of Jesus Christ, so that they may be presented to God as pure and blameless. (Colossians 1:28).
