Tom Torrance

I know there are people who read my blog that may not be crazy about T.F. Torrance, but I have to say, finishing a class I just took on his readings, that although he is one of the deepest thinker and writer I've encountered, he has challenged me and renewed my faith in Jesus Christ. Not that I lost it (I've had it all along), but he (with the help of his student and my professor Dr. Andrew Purves) has helped me to know the power of the Good News of Jesus Christ in a whole new way. My preaching, my ministry, my life... none of these will ever be the same. And the reason is because my life is in the hands of my faithful Savior, in whom and through whom my life, and all human existence, has been redeemed.

Here is a quote that Dr. Purves read to us at the end of the class. To say the least, it made my heart and my soul leap for joy within me (if they can actually do that), because it is truly the Good News of the Gospel:

“How, then, is the Gospel to be preached in a genuinely evangelical way? Surely in such a way that full and central place is given to the vicarious humanity of Jesus as the all-sufficient human response to the saving love of God which he has freely and unconditionally provided for us. We preach and teach the Gospel evangelically, then, in such a way as this: God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged him very Being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualized his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross, thereby denying himself. Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart form your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell, his love for you will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. From beginning to end what Jesus Christ has done for you he has done not only as God but as man. He has acted in your place in the whole range of your human life and activity, including your personal decisions, and your responses to God’s love and even your acts of faith. He has believed for you, fulfilled your human response to God, even made your personal decision for you, so that he acknowledges you before God as one who has already responded to God in him, who has already believed in God through him, and whose personal decision is already implicated in Christ’s self offering to the Father, in all of which he has been fully and completely accepted by the Father, so that in Jesus Christ you are already accepted by him. Therefore, renounce yourself, take up the cross and follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior.” – Tom F. Torrance.

What an amazing term this has been because of this class. Praise to God for speaking His message of salvation through faithful servants like Tom Torrance and Dr. Purves, who through their own inspiration inspire others to share that powerful message of Jesus Christ with the world.