Get Your Pretense On!

Chapter 3: ”There’s Plenty Good Room” • 67

whom he will dwell forever in a new heavens and earth. His Son is redeeming from all nations this one, holy bride made up of every boy, girl, woman and man from every age and place who have acknowledged Jesus as Lord. The Spirit is drawing the peoples of the earth to Christ, for through him alone can any person be restored to right relationship with God. We are healed and adopted through him alone; there can be no authentic confession or practice of Christianity without incorporation into the person and body of Christ. One of my favorite Latin Fathers of the Church is Cyprian, a third-century bishop whose teachings and homilies contributed greatly to communication of and clarity provided by our apostolic faith. In polished Latin, Cyprian, that great churchman and theologian, spoke eloquently of the essential nature of the Church to salvation and to Christ. For decades now I have summed up Cyprian’s sentiment and the apostolic confession in this manner to my students: “If the church ain’t yo’ mama , then God ain’t yo’ daddy !” This little statement sums up nicely the truth of this matter of the organic connection of Christ to the Church. To share in Christ is to share the same essential spiritual DNA that is shared by all believers in Christ, everywhere of every time, epoch, and age: Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, [18] and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. ~ 2 Corinthians 6.17-18

. . . for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

~ Galatians 3.26