When we lose the complex backdrop of God’s World Renewal Plan when reading the New Testament and interpreting God’s salvation into our daily lives, it will greatly impact the way we think about salvation. From the perspective of me-and-my-sin-crisis, salvation becomes something that’s primarily about me. Salvation certainly concerns the individual, but when we read the story of scripture properly, we begin to see that my salvation is for a purpose that goes beyond my peace of heart and mind. We can be moved with the idea of a perfected will and fully devoted heart, but we must not end there. God forbid! We will see that salvation, and holiness in particular, is something very missional. When we get this piece right we then begin to move into embracing and understanding the full gospel.
This is an excerpt from my forthcoming book.