What he did and who he is

I had a flash that came across my mind as I sat with the church on Sunday and I am not sure where it will all lead. The pastor was talking about the incomparable person Christ is and I got to thinking about something. I had always placed an almost too great an emphasis on the work that Christ performed here on earth and especially on the cross. There is no question that the salvation he provides to us in an awesome display of love, sacrifice, justice, holiness...all of that and more.

Taking a step back from that I realized (this may be so elemental that it is laughable) that Christ would not have been able to accomplish what he did had he not been the Person that he was from all eternity. OK, so the work that he did is (can I say this?) subordinate to the Person that he is, namely, the eternal Son of God. Who he is lends credence to the doctrine of the impeccability of Christ.

Rather than focus on what he did I am going to try to focus on who he is. I think that is more in line with the thrust of Colossians 1 where Paul talks about the person of Christ. What he did is, most definitely, awesome. And, equally definitely, it is a proper subset of who he is. Why not focus on the superset? Why not indeed.

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