Resurrection, Apocalypse, and the Kingdom of Christ. Stanley S. MacLean
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СКАЧАТЬ in his goodness creates life but who in his righteousness can take life away. His holiness leads to the crucifixion of our sinful nature in the incarnate One; his love leads to the resurrection of our flesh through this same One. For Torrance, the “two-fold” meaning of the incarnation instructs us that we cannot understand the incarnation without the atonement; nor can we understand the atonement without the incarnation. This is why he believes a proper doctrine of atonement has to consist not only of Christ’s substitutionary work but of Christ’s “vicarious life of obedience to the Father.”50

      The organic connection between incarnation and atonement explains the unity of the “Person and Work of Christ.” This relationship is also the linchpin of Torrance’s Christology and soteriology.

      5. The Work of the Cross

      The cross stands for God’s judgment of sin. It is the sure evidence that God in his holiness will not tolerate forever the presence of sin in his creatures. The cross, then, is God’s holiness in action, his self-assertion in the face of man’s rebellion and private self-assertion. And God succeeds. He effectively asserts his holiness by putting to death Christ, man’s representative and substitute before God. At the cross the holiness of God is revealed in all its truth and in all its glory. The judgment of the cross is also paradoxically a revelation of the love of God. For this judgment is the first act in God’s atonement for sins. The cross not only reveals how far we have fallen away from God, but also how close God has come to us. It testifies that God is no longer against us, that he has not abandoned us. It shows that he has made the greatest stride towards the reestablishment of his “Dominion” over us and his “Communion” with us.

      6. The Resurrection: fulfillment of the Person and Work

      They are seen together because they are really brought back together in the resurrection. From an historical perspective, the cross marks the separation of the person and his work, a break in the unity of the incarnation and atonement. By becoming a sacrifice for sins the person is lost to death. The resurrection, however, reunites the person and work of Christ.

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