According to Douglas Moo, the theological or conceptual “framework within which Paul expresses his key ideas in Romans can be called salvation history” (D. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, 1996, 25). What he means by this is that “God has accomplished redemption as part of a historical process. God’s work in Christ is the center of history, the point from which both past and future must be understood” (26). So the cross and resurrection of Jesus are, on the one hand, the fulfilment of the Old Testament, and on the other, they anticipate the “final glory”.
Christ is, therefore, the “climax” of history, dividing an old age of sin, law, flesh and death from a new age of righteousness, grace, Spirit and life. People are saved when they are transferred from the old age to the new.
Recent comments