tp0x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Thomas Carl Price) (07/26/90)
>God created man in order that man could share in the Love that is present >between the Father and the Son. He did not intend that man should just be >a vehicle for the Glorification of Christ. I think that the purpose of God in creation is to glorify himself, and I take the clearest statement of that purpose to be Numbers 14:21. The salvation of man is incidental, yet inseparable, for God glorifies himself through revealing his loveliness -- and the gift of salvation is surely lovely. The fundamental change of percieved essential purpose, from salvation of man to glorification of God, has many subtle consequences for exegesis. The hope of disciples (the 'hope of Israel') is the Kingdom of God on earth, with Jesus Christ as world ruler, fulfilling the promise of Num 14:21 to fill all the earth with the glory of God. The task of disciples is not simply to "be saved" by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal saviour but to manifest the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ; this manifestation I take to be the meaning of Paul's many passages about the "indwelling spirit" -- also 1 John's and others'. Disciples build their characters with greater and greater development as time goes on, waiting for the return of their Lord when they hope to receive a new nature so that the carnal mind is no longer warring against this mind of the spirit which they have been struggling to develop -- Rom 6, etc. THere is more, but what think you all?