and imputation of justification in the heavenly courtroom,
apart from the spiritual and experiential presence of the
Righteous One, Jesus Christ (I John 2:1), making us
righteous (II Cor. 5:21) and manifesting the character “fruit
of righteousness” (Phil. 1:11) in our behavior, we have
once again divorced theology from the dynamic divine
Being of the God-man, making it less that “Christian
theology.”
B.F. Westcott advised over a century ago:
“According to some the essence of Christianity lies in the fact
that it is the supreme moral law. According to others its essence is
to be found in true doctrine, or more specially in the scheme of
redemption, or in the means of the union of man with God.
Christianity does in fact include Law, and Doctrine, and
Redemption, and Union, but it combines them all in a still wider
idea. It establishes the principle of a Law, which is internal and not
external, which includes an adequate motive for obedience and
coincides with the realisation of freedom (James 1:25). It is the
expression of the Truth, but this Truth is not finally presented in
thoughts but in fact, not in abstract propositions but in a living
Person. 7
In this then lies the main idea of Christianity, that it presents
the redemption, the perfection, the consummation of all finite
being in union with God. 8
Christianity is historical not simply or characteristically
because Christ standing out before the world at a definite time and
place proclaimed certain truths and laid down certain rules for the
constitution and conduct of a society. It is historical because He
offered Himself in His own Person, and He was shewn to be in the
events of His Life, the revelation which He came to give. 9