The Robe of God: Reconciliation, the Believers Church Essential

God moves first with grace and comes to us in Christ to reconcile us to himself. He transforms us and accepts us into the covenant relationship. God clothes us, like the prodigal son, in the robe of righteousness and gives us a place in his family.The heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ, through whom God came to us and became human yet sinless, to restore true humanity in us. In Christ, we are a new creation, reconciled with God and with each other as God's own people, saved from being self-centered. Thus, Augsburger says, reconciliation surely has a social effect.God's self-disclosure reaches its full expression in Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, Lord, Mentor, Intercessor, and Reconciler. We become a new community of disciples living in solidarity with Jesus. Salvation and ethics flow from our relation to Jesus; we identify with Jesus, to live by God's will. The gospel makes love possible.The church needs a new sense of the global and situational nature of God's reign, sharing God's grace personally with all peoples, to enable them to live with equity, justice, and mutuality. This book holds together the evangelistic and social dimensions of reconciliation as the core of the gospel.